Of Moonlight Shadows and Echoes Past
by ZeoViolet
Summary: Chapter 20 added! A Psychic teenager named Sharie, daughter of one of Mewtwo's creators, finds a baby Mewtwo Giovanni forgot about...and eventually, runs into Mewtwo himself...
1. The Finding

Disclaimers 'n such: I do not own pokemon. Nintendo and all the other generous producers who created the game and subsequent anime own them, and they have my everlasting thanks. Thanks also go to Mystic Mewtwo, who nudged me into putting up the storyline I'd had in my mind since first viewing Pokemon: The First Movie and later, Mewtwo Returns. I only own characters that are figments of my imagination, including Madhea, the girl Mewtwo, and Sharie Triesta, the psychic daughter of one of the scientsts who created Mewtwo for Giovanni. (If the name sounds familiar, Power Rangers fans, it is because I am also the author of the "From the Stars" series a couple of years ago on Cynthia's site. I am lazy with changing names in set characters. Sharie Triesta has just become a generic name for me.)  
  
Okay, the other stuff. I take liberties with certain established facts of the characters, certain established storylines, the timeline, or other "set" pokemon facts. So if what I write contradicts what you know is "real", well, it's most likely I do know and am choosing to ignore/change it for story reasons. Oh, yeah, I KNOW Ai/Amber actually had blue eyes rather than the Amethyst eyes I establish here....but it's changed for story's sake. I go by the English version of the Anime, BTW. Sorry, can't speak Japanese very well (although with as much subtitled Anime as I've been getting my hands on lately, I have picked up a little bit). Which also means that the girl, Ai, from the Japanese short "Mewtwo's Origin" is refferred to here with her English name, Amber.   
  
Synopsis: It's gonna get pretty tangled, but basically, Sharie Triesta, a human girl with extraoridnary Psychic powers and a scientist in her own right, rescues a baby Mewtwo that Giovanni forgot about when Mewtwo purged his memory. She knows she must keep the baby out of human grasp, and decides to take her to Mewtwo, where she hopes she would be safe....the question is: Will Mewtwo, upon discovering that it was *her* family that helped create him, accept her presence....or could it go all the worse for both of them? Plus, they discover that shadows from their pasts seem to say they've met before....but from where? Enjoy. I do accept comments and suggestions, but flames with no critiquing value will be deleted without reply.  
  
Oh, yeah.....rated PG-13, mostly for violence and a bit of mild language--nothing too bad, I promise. (The rating may seem a bit stretched, but better safe than sorry.)  
  
****  
  
Moonlight Shadows and Echoes Past  
by ZeoViolet  
  
Mewtwo stared at the full moon, shining brightly upon him and reflecting in his amethyst-purple eyes--eyes that he strove hard to not reflect the shadows of pain echoing in their depths. Depths that struck straight and true to his heart.  
  
*Moonlight*, he thought to no one in particular. *For those not of nature's order, we are only able to walk the moonshadow path. If we are to survive in a world that deems us different, we must travel where others would not be found. The shadows of moonlight are a fitting place to us, echoes of living creatures.*  
  
He was glad no one was watching him. Here, safe within the hidden depths of caverns beneath Mt. Quena, all of his fellow clones were asleep, tired from their recent journey. Only he was awake, standing at one of the waterfall openings that spewed river water out of the sides of the mountain to the valley below.  
  
This was but a temporary home, now. Part of the time they could live here, for the bus would not attempt to cross but once a month. The rest of the time they had to leave, just to avoid detection. Luna and Cullen Calix, the closest humans to the mountain, did not remember him, and he hoped they would not again attempt to climb Mt. Quena. As long as they stayed down where they were, doing their own research, he was fine with it.  
  
Mewtwo sighed, placing his tri-fingered hand against the stone wall and closing his eyes. Try as he might, he could not ignore the deep, spearing pain of lonliness that pierced his very soul. The very pain that had been growing within him steadily since he could remember. The others might be clones, like himself, but they were not him. He was the sole pokemon of his species, and thus doomed to an existence of utter solitude, knowing there was not another like himself to find companionship with.  
  
*No,* he thought firmly to himself, *I would not wish such a fate on any other pokemon. I'd rather be alone for eternity than have another like myself suffering at some cruel scientists' hands, like those damnable Triesta brothers who created me....or worse, serving someone like Giovanni. Any such pokemon is better off dead.*  
  
He clenched his teeth, fighting the pain from the horrors of his past back. It faded, but left a hollow emptiness within him. He crossed his hands over his abdomen and shut his eyes tightly, feeling quite the lonliest creature in the universe.  
  
****  
  
Of all those born different, those destined to walk a fine line between shadow and light, a very few humans are also born into this fold. Even if they do not realize it, they are destined to walk in a very different world than any other human, a world riding the fine edge between human and pokemon, an edge occupied by both light and dark--a realm of shadows.  
  
One could not always tell from the outside. If a person could be born pokemon-like in spirit, but with a human's body, that would describe part of it. They are sometimes born with powers that no human should have or ever use, powers only pokemon alone sould weild. This fact alone would often brand them outcasts by others with cruel tongues. It was a rare enough occurence, too, with only a small handful of humans gifted/cursed with it in history.  
  
Sharie Triesta was one such individual. Born Psychic into a family with a long history of psychics and scientists, this should not have been a problem. But with psychic powers that were far more pokemon in origin than human, it was an immediate identifiable stamp, a stamp that would become a curse.  
  
The first indication had been her incessant cries as a baby. Worried, her father, Dr. Donningan Triesta, took her to see his favorite Alakazam, who made it clear just what the girl's problem was, that her psychic nature was causing her stress. All the pokemon could do for the frazzled father was place a Psychic suggestion in the girl's mind to ease the pain until she could build her own defenses. This was a type of Psychic power not even her own father, both a Psychic himself and a scientist to boot, could help her with.  
  
Not too long afterwards, she began to display a rather astounding trait that had very little to do with her psychic powers--she had the unique ability to understand any pokemon's sub-language and talk back to them in it.  
  
They found it out quite by accident. Sharie wasn't even walking yet, although she was talking in broken sentences--an early indication of how telepathy easily increased her vocabulary. Her father had been caring for her for the day while at work, and, in a hurry to finish an experiment, placed her in a pen beside a Bulbasaur.  
  
"Watch her, would you?" he asked tiredly.  
  
"Zoar." Sadly, the Bulbasaur looked at him and nodded. Donningan was not an unfeeling man and he smiled and rubbed the Bulbasaur's head before walking to the nearby table and mixing chemichals.  
  
"Bubba--zoar?"  
  
Surprised, the Bulbasaur had turned his head to see Sharie sitting there, watching him.   
  
"Zoar-zoar, Bulba?" he asked.  
  
Emphatically, she nodded. "Soar! Bubba-soar!"  
  
Crash!  
  
Her father had dropped his glass beakers in utter shock.  
  
Sharie only looked at him.  
  
"Bubbasaur lonely," she said simply.  
  
"And how do you know that?" he asked in a quivering voice.  
  
"He say. Miss old twainer, but twainer leave him. Bubbasoar not 'volve. Happy here, but lonely."  
  
"You can say his words." It was more a statement than a question.  
  
His daughter only stared at him.  
  
****  
  
As she grew, her powers became more evident. Her parents tried to train her in control, but often, she left them stumped. How could you easily train a kid whose powers already exceeded your own?  
  
They began to rage out of control when Sharie's mother died when she was barely four years old. Heartbroken, her father took daughter in hand and took her with him to his various labs he co-owned with one of his brothers, Daryn Triesta. Sharie ended up growing up in several labratory settings, often distant labs far from any city or town, regarded by many scientsts as much an experimentee as the eventual experimenter she would become. The cruelties they inflicted upon her behind her father's back would haunt her for the rest of her days. It was only compounded when her powers would rage out of control and she could depend on little but herself, or the occassional Psychic pokemon, to bring her relief until she could control each new power surge as her abilities grew in strength and complexity.  
  
As her abilities grew, so did her ability to control herself, though she feared that she would always be prone to sudden power surges until she was grown. Desperate for some outlet to focus her abilities, she turned to studying just to take her mind off the torment. Putting all that power towards learning did have certain advantages--home-schooling courses granted her several scientific degrees at an early age. But it wasn't enough, for while it was an outlet, it left Sharie deeply unfulfilled.  
  
In his younger days, Dr. Triesta had been declared by the League to be a pokemon master in his own right, so when he discovered how much it meant to Sharie to interact with pokemon, he pulled some strings and managed to get her a trainer's license and a Master's ranking when she was only seven years old. By mutual agreement, it was only partially valid, for it would allow her to freely interact with the lab pokemon, but she would not be able to capture any of her own until her tenth birthday, nor participate in official trainer battles until then. The Master's ranking--the results of her test scores for League entry--was to be an even tighter-kept secret for many years.  
  
Even after her tenth birthday, Sharie refused to capture pokemon. She knew what it was like to be considered below someone else and she did not dream of depriving any pokemon the freedom of life they deserved in the wild. Her father had tried to protect her, but as much as he, her Uncle Daryn, Aunt Alyssa, and her cousin Amber loved her, she knew full well of life's cruel realities and came to the conclusion that moonlight was the best place for someone who seemed as much pokemon as human.  
  
Knowing her feelings, her father did not tell her when he first left on a brief exploration trip, and then, along with her uncle, went on a secret project they did not tell her about. Sharie hated mental intrusion so much that it did not occur to her to read her family's mind. When Amber died, she was devastated, and it did not help when her uncle Daryn said that Amber was still alive, in a way, and maybe she could come back....but only maybe. He gave no further details. Her Aunt Alyssa divorced her Uncle Daryn soon afterwards, and were it not for the fact that she was also Sharie's mother's blood sister and remained her aunt regardless--two brothers marrying two sisters--, she would have disappeared for good.  
  
In the midst of all the turmoil, the blackouts started..  
  
The first she could not remember. She woke up to her father and uncle sadly telling her that she had been unconscious for weeks after an accident, and that during the time, Amber really had passed on for good. Sharie felt the crushing blow a second time, but like before, she did not cry. She had long since forgotten how.  
  
The day that she first learned of Mewtwo's existence was the day when he awoke....and the same time he did, she fell unconscious.  
  
This time, however, she remembered everything. It was so vivid--like she had been standing beside him. She could not really see into his mind, but she could feel his deep anger.   
  
Sharie's family were lucky to escape with their lives.  
  
What she remebered most vividly was the screams. She sensed anger surging through this pokemon, and she could only stand by and do nothing. She was almost bowled over by intense Psychic blasts the pokemon kept surging forth, with little idea or caring for control.  
  
"We dreamed of creating the world's most powerful pokemon," she heard her uncle Daryn whisper in the distance. "....And we succeeded...."  
  
She had been nearly blinded by a flash of white light, and the raging fire that consumed the island.  
  
"Behold my power, for I am the greatest pokemon ever created," she heard Mewtwo snarl in a psychically projected voice. She could only watch as he stared spitefully down at the crude stone carving of Mew on the ground. "Greater even than *you*."  
  
****  
  
At her demand, Sharie's father and uncle told her everything, and showed her the project they had been working on. It was only the promise of free help that led to their unholy alliance with Team Rocket.   
  
"Our family is wealthy enough!" she had cried to them. "Team Rocket is evil! Why, Uncle Daryn, why did you treat Mewtwo like he was nothing more than an object, a machine?!"  
  
It was only when they told her about reawakening Amber, then losing her again, did she soften and forgive them. She sensed it was not the complete story, but seeing their own pain, she decided not to press them further on day-by-day details. She also reminded them that pokemon were sentient and to create life with no intent but cold scientific study was cruel in the extreme. Knowing how gentle they both usually were with pokemon--lab specimins or not--, she knew it was more their grief over Amber than anything that had led to their attitudes towards Mewtwo--for he had survived, while Amber had not.  
  
Now they understood how right she was.  
  
Since then, she had blacked out several more times. Each time, it was like she was standing beside the pokemon known as Mewtwo, though he could not really see her. All she could do was stand and watch, invisible to him, as he trained under Giovanni's tutelage. She felt sick when she discovered that he was in the hands of Team Rocket, even if they were teaching him control. Her anger was his the day Giovanni came upon Mewtwo pondering his existence and cut him further with cruel words.  
  
"You were created for *me*," came the sharply cutting words. "You were created *by* humans to *obey* humans. *That* is your destiny, nothing more."  
  
"That *cannot* be!" was the reply, and Sharie felt keenly the stabbing pain in her own heart echoing his. "You said we were partners, we stood as equals!"  
  
"You are a pokemon!" came the cold reply. "Not human. You could *never* be my equal."  
  
To her own horror, Sharie had felt her own personal response and Mewtwo's become one, for a bare instant. "I was not born a pokemon, I was created! My creators have used and betrayed me--so, I stand *alone*!"  
  
*We both are destined to stand alone,* she had thought sadly, though he did not hear her. She felt utterly numb when, now with his powers at his full control, he destroyed the lab and fled, leaving Giovanni far behind. She had even briefly wondered if it was well within his rights to come after his creators after all the pain he had experienced for being different--absolutely powerful, but different.  
  
But the worst was yet to come.  
  
One day she blacked out again, and was unconscious for what seemed like an eternity to her frightened father. This time, she did not lay quietly, but thrashed all over the place, her mind clearly not in her body.  
  
Only when she woke, after a great struggle, did they learn of the horrors she had seen.  
  
Mewtwo had attempted to take over the world.  
  
She had seen it all. The trainers, the fight, the startling fact that Mew was not extinct as believed....and the boy Ash that had opened the cold heart of Mewtwo, at the price of his life.  
  
And the miracle of the pokemon tears restoring it, causing Mewtwo to feel as if his heart was wrenched open and flooded with emotions he had never before felt.  
  
"I see now," he had said quietly to Mew, watching how the boy, Ash, valued all pokemon, born or created, as if it truly did not matter to him. "I see now. The circumstances of one's birth--when choosing what to do with life, those circumstances are irrelavant, aren't they? It is what you *do* with life's gift, that must determine who you are."  
  
His deep-seated rage at humanity gone, he took his new fellow clones and left, erasing the memories of all but the silent partner whom he did not know was there--except for some deeply hidden, unconscious corner.  
  
His deep rage had ebbed, but not the anger or the hurt, from such painful betrayal. That, he felt, would never leave him. All he wanted now, was peace. A place alone, from dangerous humanity. Even if they had to live as outcasts, he and his fellow clones would live in peace.  
  
For the next year, Sharie felt nothing more of him.  
  
Until the horrific scenes at Mt. Quena rendered her by his side once more. Once again, the boy Ash was there, and once again, it was his pure-hearted spirit that overcame Giovanni's offensive. And this time, Mewtwo agreed to spare the memories of Ash and his friends while this time he erased everyone else's.  
  
Except that of the silent watcher. All this time, he had no real awareness she was there--at most, he had felt watched once or twice, but nothing appeared to him, so only the deepest depths of his unconscious mind and heart remembered the bond they had formed, in a time neither could remember, and that when his life's path took a curve, she had been there to witness it with him.  
  
Not even Sharie herself knew the reason behind her strange bond with a unique being as Mewtwo. After awhile, she had simply given up pondering it. She only resigned it as destiny, never dreaming that she and Mewtwo could possibly meet one day.  
  
****  
  
Donningan Triesta transferred the e-mail he had recieved into the pokegear held in his daughter's surprised hands.  
  
"Read it," he said wearily. "After all that has happened, you of all people deserve to know. Read it."  
  
She did, her amethyst-purple eyes growing wide with a comprehending horror, absoultely thunderstruck. No sooner did she get to the last word than she ripped the pokegear device from around her neck and flung it onto the couch, flopping down hard beside it and staring off into space.  
  
"I have just one question, Da," she said in a low voice. "Did you have *anything* at all to do with this new baby Mewtwo's creation this time?"  
  
"After what happened last time, and what you've had to go through since?" he asked, kneeling to her eye level, his own amethyst eyes meeting her matching ones. "I would have told you if I had decided to follow such a course with Team Rocket again. You would have ripped me limb from limb for getting involved in their affairs after the promise I made to you."  
  
"Not limb from limb," she said softly. "But it would have been very hard to forgive you, Da. Mewtwo is a living creature, like us, and as intelligent as any human, if not more. He has a soul the same as mine, and yet he was treated the same as a machine, like a curiosity to be prodded and examined. Some of your colleagues were fit to try and treat me the same way. Only my protests and the intervention of you and Uncle Daryn prevented much of it. You are Psychic, Da, and you of all people should have known that."  
  
"I know that now," he said softly. "I know that now."  
  
Sharie picked up her pokegear again. "After Giovanni's memory was erased, almost everyone involved forgot that they were creating this new baby. Only one scientist involved remained behind at the airbase, and thus was spared Mewtwo's knowledge. I can't believe he felt guilty enough to e-mail you and tell you about it, and leave Giovanni in the dark."  
  
"I never gave Giovanni permission to use my techniques to create another Mewtwo," said Donningan quietly, his arm around his daughter. "Although he did approach me about it, I flatly refused. He even warned me that it was not a wise idea to refuse him, but I would not do it. I should have hidden my own files better. This one came from a seperate fossil found, unrelated to the first. The DNA alterations themselves were identical. However, the way the pokemon has been grown is different than what I did. They placed the DNA into a pokemon ovum and have been growing it from an embryonic stage in an artificial womb, like any pokemon or human baby. They intend to have it 'born' when it reaches fetal maturity, instead of full physical maturity like Mewtwo was."  
  
"Either way, Da, the baby was intended for Team Rocket's use," Sharie said quietly, gritting her teeth. To his surprise, her father saw something flash deeply in her eyes, a new fire he had never before seen in his 17-year-old daughter. He guessed part of her intentions before she even voiced them.  
  
"I am going, Da. That child will otherwise die from neglect if I don't. It must *not* be allowed to fall into Giovanni's hands."  
  
"That's well and good in itself," he conceded quietly. "But what can be done with the baby? Surely knowing you, you would not have it grow up in a labratory setting if you could help it."  
  
She arose from the couch, her father with her, easily towering over her petite frame. "No, Da, I don't. The child must be kept away from humanity and it's dangers. It deserves to grow up freely. Maybe even with others like itself. I will find the child, Da, and if at all possible, I will take it to Mewtwo to keep safe from humans. It could be the baby's only real hope."  
  
Her father's eyes widened in horror, and he looked at Sharie's resolute face, the features very similar to his own--features that her own cousin Amber had, once upon a time. Amber had been a beautiful child, not looking like her father but like her uncle and cousin, and sometimes, the reminder was painfully evident to both brothers in Sharie's face. Amber would have grown into a very attractive young woman one day, if she had lived.  
  
"Are you sure?" he asked. "Wouldn't that be foolish? You know how he feels about our family. I'd be afraid he'd at least attempt to kill you."  
  
"I hope not," came the dry reply. "It is a risk I am willing to take. I must set right the many wrongs that have been done already. Oh, Da!"  
  
Sharie sighed and stared out the window at the setting sun. "You say that despite the freakish powers I have I am a normal human otherwise. Maybe so. But with powers such as mine--what is my destiny? The only time I feel at peace with myself is when I am working with pokemon, being with them as they are. It is my only sense of--of being one with myself, and I have never had any indication of what my destiny may be. I don't want to sit around in labratories all my life, doing nothing but following in the family footsteps. For the first time, with this, I feel as if I might have some purpose. That there might actually be a deeper reason I was born with such powers as I have, besides never giving me much peace."  
  
"Follow your own heart, Sharie," said her father sadly, leaning down to kiss her forehead. "You've already put those powers of yours to use in communicating with pokemon when nobody else can understand them--even I cannot without a Psychic link. You've already obtained the degrees I spent years working on, and I know your heart yearns for peace and something more for your own destiny. If you feel that you must go out and face the world in this manner, then so be it. Don't let the child fall into the wrong hands. Find it a place where it can belong....maybe you will find your own niche in the world while you are gone. I pray it is true. Good luck, my daughter, and stay safe--you are the only one Daryn and I have left."  
  
"I'll try, Da," she answered, hugging him fiercely. "I'll try."  
  
****  
  
Both father and uncle were waiting at the foot of the stairs when Sharie came down the next morning, backpack in hand.  
  
Especially her uncle Daryn looked at her sadly. Sharie's heart ached for him; losing Amber and her Aunt Alyssa both had been very hard for her uncle, his hair already a premature white while he was still so young. At times when he looked at her, she kenw his sadness grew more poingant--for, except for the hair, Amber had looked very much like she did. The resemblence wasn't exact, but it was pretty darned close. They could have been sisters. Only the fact that Amber had wavy aquamarine hair instead of Sharie's hip-length, platinum blonde tight curls and the fact that she was almost five years younger was the real difference. When they did get a chance to be together, they had been inseperable, and was, Sharie now reflected, her only true friend.  
  
Amber had been ten when she had died over a year and a half ago. Thank goodness the illness had been merciful enough that she did not suffer long. It only reinforced Sharie's patient resolve--that she was meant to go through life alone.  
  
Fiercely they hugged her goodbye. She could tell they were scared for her. Mewtwo had, after all, tried to kill them.  
  
However, for the first time, she could feel whispers of destiny calling her down a path, giving her some sense of purpose. It was a heed she could not ignore.  
  
And, maybe, giving the baby mewtwo over would finally set some old wrongs right.  
  
And Mewtwo would not have to be alone anymore.  
  
"My old colleague did not give me a specific location of the lab," said Donningan. "He only said it was in the far west reaches of the Johto reigon. The closest towns here are New Bark Town to the South and Pallet Town to the South East, in Kanto. Sharie," her father placed his hands on her narrow shoulders and knelt so his height was adjusted with her small frame and they were eye-to-eye. "Please, be careful. Do what your heart tells you is right. Whatever you decide to do in the future, find your own path and know that Daryn and I are behind you all the way, in spirit if not in body. If all else fails in your search for Mewtwo, then we swear we will help you keep the child out of the rest of humanity's vicious grasp until it is grown. No labs, no tests. On this you have our word."  
  
For a moment, Sharie's eyes shimmered, and she hugged them hard.  
  
*I'll try my best,* they heard her thoughts in their minds in a rare display of telepathy. *I cannot say when I would be back, it could be a long time, but I must find my destiny by myself. But I'll take comfort in the fact that you are with me in spirit. Nobody can break those bonds.*  
  
They shared one last, fierce hug, and Sharie left without another word.  
  
For nothing more needed to be said.  
  
****  
  
The search took weeks. Sharie only had a general sense of where to look, and the more time that passed, the more she knew that time was in short supply. The letter had said that a computer fed the baby automatically, but surely, without supervision, it could not last for much longer.  
  
As the days wore on, she pushed deeper and deeper into the wilderness of Johto, rarely coming across a town or city. Along the way, she occupied herself by doing some of the things she did best--healing sick pokemon as best she could without a pokecenter. Thanks to her own abiltities, and stuff she had learned from pokemon themselves, she was as adept at finding forest medicine as any other pokemon doctor or forest creature. Healing others also gave her a measure of peace in her own soul.  
  
Besides, pokemon were always plesantly surprised to discover that she could speak their own languages on their own terms, even ones she had never heard before.  
  
It took a long time, but at last by intervewing forest pokemon, Sharie learned of a lab, deep in the forest, that had, weeks before, apparently been abandoned. It was shut up tight and no pokemon had dared to try and enter it themselves.  
  
With new directions, Sharie at last came to a building hidden deeply away from the world.  
  
Painted upon the doors was a symbol that made her blood run cold--a huge, capital letter R.  
  
Sharie immediately slowed and approached the building cautiously, keeping to the shadows of the trees and ignoring the scratches the thorny brush gave her. The resident pokemon had said that the building was empty, but she preferred caution. She had no pokemon to battle with herself; she could only rely on her own powers. Any devices that could ensnare a mewtwo--surely they had them here--could certainly work on her as well.  
  
There was no sign of movement, no shadows in the windows, highligted by the full moon of night. Only then did Sharie dare open her mind a little to try and sense any presence of evil about the place, or any human signature. She hated mental intrusion so much that seldom did she allow herself to sense another's mind or thoughts, especially without their permission--but in this case, it was necessary.  
  
She could sense no human presence.  
  
Only then did she approach the doors, walking as quietly as she could.  
  
Quickly, she entered the access codes that her father had used long ago with Mewtwo, praying they would work. Her relief was great when the door wooshed open, admitting her without protest.  
  
Slowly, she entered the dark hallways, only dimly lit with those self-sustaining flourescent bulbs that were themselves threatening to go out any moment. In a short distance she reached the main labratory.  
  
Except for one functioning computer and one glowing column of light in the corner of the main room, the area was dark.  
  
*Why on earth did Giovanni need *every* scientist from this place to accompany him?* she thought. It just did not sound like him, to abandon such a project as cloning a second Mewtwo. Well--he probably figured the baby would be stable enough for a couple of days alone, and with a pokemon like Mewtwo, he needed every scientist on hand who had enough knowledge of him to help capture him. Only the one scientist, who had stayed behind at the airbase, had escaped Mewtwo's knowledge and therefore, the memory purge.....  
  
But, if Mewtwo had erased everyone's memory of *him*, why, then, did they forget this place, as well? Sharie thought back to what she had seen, and then, with a flash of clarity, remembered.....Mewtwo had erased their memories of him and *anything to do with him*, so there would be no reminders. The Psychic suggestion he had placed in their minds would have automatically buried any memory that had anything to do with him, and surely, the creation of a second Mewtwo had a lot to do with him.....  
  
She shuddered. Mewtwo surely did not know of this himself, or she doubted he would have ignored this place for so long. He did not have to explore a person's memory to block and bury any memories he did not want them to have.  
  
Sharie went to the computer console. She squinted at it a moment, trying to see the many buttons in the darkness that pressed in on all sides. The layout was familiar enough. She decided it would not be difficult to work. Her fingertips found the button that activated the lights, and she had to cover her eyes for a moment, temporarily blinded.  
  
She then moved to the glowing tube in the corner. Bubbles occassionly drifted in it and there were wires and electrodes going down in from the top. Sharie recognized it as a maturation chamber--an artificial womb.  
  
Seeing what was within, her heart sank.  
  
For inside it, indeed, floated a tiny baby Mewtwo. There could be no mistake, and the scientist had not lied.  
  
****  
  
*This wasn't right.* Those were the first words to echo in Sharie's mind. This--all of it--did not look right. The equipment was barely functioning. The baby floating within was curled in a fetal position, but the readouts told her that it was past due to have been born.  
  
Why, then, was it so small? It could not weigh more than four or five pounds.  
  
Sharie stepped closer to the tube and peered closer at the floating infant. Her heart sank at how still the baby was, and the pallor of the skin--it was all wrong.  
  
In fact, the color of the artificial amniotic fluid itself was wrong.  
  
With a start, Sharie drew back. The liquid the child was floating in--it had become contaminated! The water should have been a clearer color, instead, it was cloudy, a sign of negelct.  
  
*Is the child even alive?*  
  
Sharie ran back to the computer and punched up the readouts. As an afterthought, she set up the computer to download all information on the baby into a small computer pad she was carrying with her.  
  
Her heart sank further as she turned back to the readouts.  
  
The child was alive, but barely. The essential equiptment--providing her blood with food and oxygen--was functioning, but the contaminants had invaded her body. In her haste, Sharie dimly noted that the readouts indicated a female baby, but that was not important now. No wonder the poor child was so sickly colored, and did not move--her tiny body was livid with an infection that was slowly eating her alive.  
  
For a moment, she stood still, thinking. The baby had to be born, *now*, if she was to survive. The infection had to be tackled, if it wasn't too late already.  
  
Sharie closed her eyes and, rather superstitiously, crossed her fingers. Her heart beat faster and a weird, tingling sensation gripped her heart. Where another would have panicked, she let this new feeling guide her hands and prayed she did this right.  
  
She had to force herself to walk over to the computer console and boot up the process that would allow the mewtwo baby to be 'born'.  
  
The equipment moved sluggishly, but complied. The many tubes hooked up to the infant disengaged, and a brief mechanical nudge turned her upside down towards the bottom of the chamber.  
  
Sharie's heart beat faster with a sense of impending doom she could not brush away. She had to move to catch the infant as she was pushed to the bottom of the chamber and expelled slowly from the opening in a series of pulsing contractions.  
  
Sharie ceased to breathe as she caught the little head and eased the rest of the small body forth, out into the world. She felt a flash of panic when she realized the infant did not move. She lifted her quickly up onto a nearby table and used a suction to remove any debris from the little mouth.  
  
*Come on, baby, breathe.*  
  
Suddenly, the infant's back arched, and she seemed to struggle for a moment to draw in her first breath, the first assurance that she was still alive.  
  
The infant was too weak to keep up the struggle for more than a few moments. The small chest tremored with effort, but did not rise, the lungs could not inflate, and exhausted with the effort, the baby went limp a moment later as Sharie watched in total horror.  
  
She had failed to take her first breath of life.  
  
*NO!*  
  
The word exploded into Sharie's brain. She could not think, she could only move for a few seconds. Some deep, desperate desire would not let her give up on the little one.  
  
*No! She cannot die! Everyone deserves a chance at life! This child must have a future--she *must*!!*  
  
Quickly she reached for the suction again and doubly cleaned out both the small nose and the mouth. She slipped the fingers of one hand behind the small neck and lifted the chin, sealing her lips around the baby's mouth, and forcefully blew air into the baby's lungs, inflating them herself for the first time. With her other hand, she firmly thumped the bottom of the small feet.  
  
The baby arched beneath her again, reacting to the double stimulation, and when Sharie removed her mouth, the infant uttered a small squeak. The baby gasped, breathing on her own, and as Sharie watched, heart in her throat, let out a series of tiny mews, protesting the intrusion of her solitary world.  
  
Sharie's heart fell to her toes. She was alive! Her quick thinking had worked. The child was so weak it was no wonder she did not have the strength required to draw in her first breath by herself.  
  
Sharie could only sink into a chair, baby in her arms. She tucked her feet under her and cradled the small baby close to her heart protectively. She felt so exhausted she could not move. She looked down at the little baby and could not hide a smile, despite her concerns. She was perfect! Nobody had to tell her otherwise, this baby was a perfectly formed Mewtwo infant. She was tiny, but if she lived, she would grow.  
  
*If she lived.* Sharie started and sat up suddenly. She looked at the baby again. The pallor she had noticed earlier looked no better on this side of the glass. Despite the fact the girl was breathing now, it was labored, and Sharie heard a distinct wheezing in her chest that should not have been there, an indication of how far the infection had spread. She had a high fever, too. Sharie easily felt it when she ran her fingertips over the baby's forehead.  
  
At her touch, the infant uttered a small squeak and moved her head slightly. The newborn's amethyst eyes opened, met Sharie's matching ones, and held.  
  
****  
  
For what seemed an eternity, they held. Sharie was too enthralled to tear her gaze away, or even to breathe. The baby's eyes, even clouded with fever, were thick with the ancient wisdom of her Mew ancestors, and their intensity speared her deeply into her heart.  
  
Unconsciously, Sharie's hand moved to stroke the smooth skin of the baby's cheek, unable to help herself. Her heart was spiralling with emotions she had never before felt, emotions awakened from the deepest recesses of her heart. It was more than protective instincts, or even maternal instincts. It was much more. It was something that was undefineable by words.  
  
Sharie's hand paused when a tiny, hot hand reached up and covered her small fingers with it's own. Deep down, Sharie felt something connect between them, jolting through both almost like electricity, and in that moment, she knew her fate regarding this baby was sealed. Never, ever could she back out.  
  
*Little one, from this moment forth I swear that you will never suffer the anger, pain, or betrayal either Mewtwo, the one like yourself, or I had to suffer. No matter what the risk to myself, I will see to it that you are raised safely and happily. I will take you to Mewtwo, where you will remain, far from the dangers of evil humans, even though it will break my heart to give you up. I want you to know the kind of stability and security we were denied because we were different. Your path may start in the world of moonshadows, little one, but one day, I promise that you will walk in sunlight just as freely and without reservation. No matter what I have to do, it will be done.*  
  
Sharie did not voice these thoughts aloud, but her eyes spoke of the deep love she was helpless to deny. A tiny smile fluttered about the baby Mewtwo's lips, and her amethyst eyes closed in exhaustion.  
  
Sharie reached for a blanket and wrapped the baby in it. She was so small--the size of a five-pound human infant--she could easily be carried in one arm, for now. The next few days would be a struggle, for it was pretty clear that it would take all of Sharie's skill for the baby to have a chance, because she was so ill.  
  
At last, Sharie felt a thread of destiny take hold. For now, her only purpose was to see to the baby's happiness. Whatever happened to her would be beside the point. Until this baby was safe, all of Sharie's existence would be for her.  
  
*I have always had no idea of who I am,* Sharie thought to herself. *Why I was born this way. Why I had to be born with what I have. Maybe, for a little while, I will have a destiny now. To show this baby to her own destiny, wherever it may be.*  
  
Before they left, Sharie barely remembered to pick up the computer pad, which had finished downloading all information regarding this baby. She would read it later.  
  
As they stepped outside, the full moon silently greeted them as a beacon of bright light, leading away from the lab of Team Rocket.  
  
Again the baby's eyes opened, having never seen the sky before, almost immediately focusing on the moon. Sharie glanced downwards in the same instant, and she could not help her mouth opening slightly in astonishment.  
  
The sight of the moonbeams reflecting in the baby's amethyst eyes dazzled Sharie to no end, and in that moment, a name for the baby was seared upon her mind to stay. A name that was certainly unsusual, but beautiful in sound and for this baby, who despite her sickly appearance, was indded beautiful. A smile curved her lips, she could not help it.  
  
"You shall be called Madhea," she whispered aloud. "In the pokemon langauge, Madhea means Moonlight Beauty. Seeing you now, I cannot think of a more perfect name for you. I can see your inner beauty, Madhea, and it is as bright as the moonbeams reflected in your eyes. Welcome to the world, Madhea. It's a big place out there."  
  
Again a tiny smile curved the small mouth, and Sharie knew that somehow, the baby understood her words. The large amethyst eyes fluttered, then closed. Madhea snuggled down against Sharie's chest, and Sharie felt certain that her dreams would be of moonbeams.  
  
End chapter 1  
  
Like it so far? I know that in a couple of places, the story was pretty squished-sounding, but I was trying to introduce the characters in a place where I only have so much space. The Desktop Publisher I type on will only allow about thirteen or fourteen pages per file. I quit (hopefully) doing that when I got to Sharie's first conversation with her father, and the story truly began.....oh, well, chapter 2 will be up soon, so.....stay tuned.  
  
**** 


	2. By A Thread

Disclaimer: Nintendo and the others involved own pokemon, I do not. I only own characters I made up myself, out of my own little noggin. Whomever provided the playground world of pokemon for us has my everlasting thanks. This is chapter 2 of "Moonlight Shadows and Echoes Past," and will hopefully be more interesting than the first part.  
  
Oh, yeah, this is something my younger brother pointed out to me after reading my first chapter--I never knew the names of any of the scientists involved in Mewtwo's creation. If there were official names out there, English or Japanese, I don't recall hearing them. Professor Daryn is his name in this story. If there actually *were* other names, go ahead and tell me, but it's too late to change it.  
  
Synopsis: In this section, Madhea's life hangs critically in the balance. Can she be saved in time? An instance or two of mild language, BTW.  
  
Moonlight Shadows and Echoes Past  
By ZeoViolet  
  
****  
  
Sharie made sure she and Madhea were a considerable distance from the labratory before she set up camp for the night. The sight of the building was just too unnerving.  
  
The baby mewtwo slept, exhausted simply from the efforts of breathing, in her arms. The wheezing in her lungs had grown considerably louder in a short amount of time, and Sharie knew she could go no further without attempting to do something to alleviate poor Madhea's suffering.  
  
She found a small clearing and set up camp, clumsily building a fire with one hand while she held fast to Madhea with her other arm. She dared not set the girl down, even for an instant.  
  
Only when the fire was safely flickering did she sit down with a sigh, away from the smoke so Madhea would not have to breathe the fumes.  
  
The baby was so tired she did not even awaken. In the flickering light of the fire, Sharie unwrapped her, for the first time really able to study her closely. She was like a miniature of the first Mewtwo, except her body seemed a bit more delicately formed, due to her gender. Her color would have even been the same, were it not for the infection ravaging her tiny body at the moment. Her skin had a ghostly-white hue to the fine purple shade--except for her small face, flushed with fever. But all her parts were there, from the tiny three-fingered hands to the graceful tail. Her feet were somewhat smaller for her frame, too, than what Mewtwo had, but Sharie supposed this was normal for Mew females.  
  
*I was right,* Sharie thought. *She is perfectly formed. But she is so small. She can't be more than five pounds. Contaminated fluid and malfunctioning equipment would not have helped her gain weight, and the infected water looked like it had been invaded by bacteria. Her lungs are saturated. She won't.....* Sharie had to force the words into her conscious brain. *She won't live long if I can't do something.*  
  
She felt her stomach tighten and her heart wrench at the thought. Already, the bond had been formed. She realized she would go to any lengths to see to Madhea's well-being and happiness, even if, in the end, it meant giving her up to Mewtwo, just to keep her safe.  
  
*But,* the thought crept into her tired brain, *Where do I begin from here?*  
  
Mt. Quena was so far away. It would take a journey of many weeks to get there on foot. And surely, Mewtwo would have left it far behind by now.  
  
*But do I have any other choice? It is where he was last seen, wasn't it? Unless I fall into another trance....*  
  
She paused in horror. That could not happen! Not with Madhea so weak! Sharie realized she'd rather run into Mewtwo by pure chance than simply black out for who knew how long, and leave Madhea alone. Despite all her abilities this was something that ran so deep she did not know if there was any way to break it.  
  
Dazed, she shook herself out of her thoughts. She reached into a pack and drew out her medicinal supply, wondering what she could do to break Madhea's fever and clear her lungs. This was not something that could be treated quickly, like wounds in a pokemon battle. This was too deep and Madhea was too delicate right now.  
  
She pulled out a small breathing chamber and, from a small vial, pumped in a few doses of an inhaled antibiotic. She attached the chamber to a small mask and held it to Madhea's face. Madhea awoke, surprised, but seemed to quietly accept this strange thing on her. She knew the woman who held her had saved her. She was not alone anymore. Her amethyst eyes closed again, moments later, and she snuggled even more tightly against Sharie's chest.  
  
Sharie ferverently hoped that, even if Madhea did recover from her illness, that it had done no permanent damage to her tiny, frail body. It was possible, but too soon to tell for sure.  
  
*Another reason I must head to Mt. Quena,* her brain reminded her. *The waters of the lake and spring beneath Mt. Quena's surface could heal her, couldn't they? I don't want to risk taking Madhea to mutliple pokecenters if I can help it....*  
  
She pondered this a moment. Her father and mother both came from rather large, far-flung families, mostly of psychic humans and/or scientists. Sharie had not been so islolated in her life that she had never seen them. Often her father had taken her to visit one relative or another. She had done plenty of traveling in her time. Her father had six brothers and two sisters, her mother'd had three sisters and a brother. Two of her father's brothers and a cousin were married to various members of the widespread Nurse Joy clan.  
  
*Can I trust them?* she wondered. The only uncle she'd had really regular contact with growing up was her uncle Daryn. All the others she had seen spontaneously throughout the years.  
  
Her uncle Sanjan and his wife, Joy, lived in the nearest town where he ran a pokemon breeding center and she ran the Pokecenter for the town. They only had one child, a two-year-old mite named Anya. (Strangely, she was one of the very few girls born into a Nurse Joy clan who did *not* look like Nurse Joy.) Her Aunt Alyssa, after divorcing her uncle Daryn, had moved there as well.  
  
Sharie realized it was a risk she had to take. She had to call her father and tell him she was alive. She had not dared to use the built-in phone on her pokegear while possibly wandering into areas inhabited by Team Rocket, and risk being overheard or monitored. Plus, she needed to stock up on supplies. Somehow, she felt that her family would support what she was trying to do--she really hoped Aunt Alyssa would, considering she had been Amber's mother and had been so dead-set against what her Uncle Daryn was trying to do.  
  
It would take a few days to get there, but Sharie knew that was where she would head next. She would stop in to see them, and then take the long journey towards Mt. Quena to search for Mewtwo.  
  
Having made her decision, Sharie reached down and took the breathing mask off the sleeping baby's face. Her breathing was quieter, for now, but Sharie knew that it would not help much unless she could also break the fever. She also needed to worry about what a baby Mewtwo would eat.  
  
Few pokemon actually nursed their young, even those that gave birth to live babies instead of eggs. Mews, like many other pokemon, were considered mammal pokemon because they were thought to give birth to live young instead of hatching eggs, yet, like most mammal pokemon, there was no indication that they would nurse babies themselves. Most pokemon babies were able to eat soft food, at least, shortly after being born or hatched. It was a chore either their parents or trainers helped them with. Indeed, Madhea had been born with two rows of fine baby teeth in place like most non-nursing pokemon, something which baby pokemon that *did* nurse only developed after a few weeks. It settled the question well enough, Sharie supposed.  
  
*But she's too weak for even soft food right now. Her arms are too tiny for me to feed her intraveonously, even a regular baby bottle would take energy she does not have. I don't even have a preemie bottle on me...*  
  
Sharie realized she would have to use one of those hollow measuring spoons she normally used with medications given to sick pokemon.  
  
*Let's just hope her stomach is not delicate as well.*  
  
She drew out a small vial of sterilized water and a special dry-powder mix of sweetend fruits, a special type of pokemon food that was often used on sick pokemon, or pokemon babies in this situation--those who were not strong enough for a solid-food diet. It was specially fortified with extra nutrients they would need to fight infection. This was a special traveling mix in powder form. Sharie mixed it with the water and shook the container gently until it was thoroughly blended.  
  
She filled the hollow handle of the dispensing spoon full, then gently nudged Madhea awake.  
  
"Come on, little one," she whispered. "Let's see if you like this, shall we? It will make you stronger."  
  
Strangely, the deep wisdom she saw reflected in Madhea's amethyst-purple eyes seemed to say she understood, at least in a way. She did not protest when Sharie gently urged her small mouth open and dribbled just a little of the fluid onto her tongue, just to see her reaction.  
  
A tiny smile passed Madhea's lips as Sharie withdrew the spoon, and she opened her mouth again.  
  
"Ah, so you know what it's for, don't you?" Sharie asked, unable to stop herself from smiling. "You like it. Easy, now--I want to make sure it does not come back up."  
  
A minute later, she was satisfied it would not. She put the spoon back into Madhea's mouth again, and, slowly, let the rest of the fluid dribble down the child's throat.  
  
She followed it with a special medicine designed to fight fevers in really weak pokemon.  
  
Madhea took it all without protest, but by the time Sharie was done, the baby was exhausted with the effort. She closed her eyes again almost immediately and fell back asleep, secure in where she was and who was holding her.  
  
Sharie sighed and leaned back against the tree she was propped up against. Madhea had barely taken two ounces of formula and medicine *total*, but Sharie was pretty certain the girl could not have taken anymore--too much, too soon.  
  
She looked down at the sleeping infant, and again her heart wrenched in her chest. She was still amazed that she had the ability to feel the deep feelings that filled her heart now. *Goodness, I don't know what to make of....of what I feel now. You must go to Mewtwo, Madhea....and yet, I don't want to give you up now.* Sharie had to swallow, hard. *Going to Mewtwo will probably be for your greater good. I must not be so selfish, but now...I don't want to lose you, even though I must.*  
  
For a moment, her eyes burned, but she blinked the feeling back. Tears did her no good. Tears were good for other people, but she had long since forgotten how to cry--not even when Amber had died could she cry. She just had gotten numb all over again.  
  
*I never understood why pokemon trainers would get so inseperable from their pokemon....I think I understand, now, at least a little. Madhea, you are not my pokemon, but you are my equal. How could....how could anybody in their right mind look at you and treat you like some slave or machine? I will treat you as my equal and nothing less. When we must part I want you to remember me with kindness, even though I am human....for never, ever will I forget you. My heart, mind, and soul will always remember.*  
  
In her sleep, Madhea curled against her in an instinctive response. Such a gesture lurched through Sharie straight to her heart, and despite her sad thoughts, made her smile--really smile.  
  
It was with great reluctance that Sharie got up long enough to pull out her sleeping bag and crawl inside, not letting Madhea go for one second. She slept on her back, the baby sleeping securely on top of her, well wrapped against any cold night air that might seep in.  
  
*Good night, my little friend. Don't worry--I'll protect you. You are not alone anymore.*  
  
Above them, the full moon glowed brightly, as if to watch over them, and reassure them that, indeed, they were not alone.  
  
****  
  
Three days had passed.  
  
Madhea would not improve. Sharie was worried and beginning to doubt her own abilities. The infection had not yet spread any further, and Madhea did not grow worse, but the fever refused to break and Sharie had to keep giving her breathing medications. In between she walked, collecting medicinal plants as she went. They were plants that normally hepled with infection and Sharie could only cross her fingers.  
  
*I hope something works soon. It's a miracle Madhea has held on this long.* Sharie cradled the sleeping baby closer to her chest and bit her lip in an effort to keep her emotions under control. *She cannot go on like this much longer, I know it. She'll die before I can even reach my Aunt Joy's pokecenter if this keeps up.....*  
  
Her heart lurched sharply. In the past days her attachment to the child had only grown stronger, and she knew her heartache would become all the more painful if Madhea passed on without even a chance at the life she deserved.  
  
But was it meant to be? Sharie saw how the girl was suffering, especially today. Her breathing was not so noisy, but she was gasping harder for breath. Her skin had that ghostly pallor, except for her small face, which remained flushed. Except for her spasming chest, she lay limply in Sharie's arms, like a rag doll. It was even becoming difficult for Sharie to rouse her enough to feed her, and it was horrifying Sharie to no end, seeing her fade before her very eyes.  
  
*Please hold on, baby....just please hold on....*  
  
****  
  
That evening, Madhea's fragile health crashed.  
  
Sharie clearly sensed something dreadful was wrong, and even though she was now only a few hour's walk from town, she knew she dared not go further.  
  
Madhea's lungs had taken on a high-pitched ruckus, as if she was drowning. Her color became worse as what energy she had left was rapidly being used up.  
  
Sharie was truly frightened now. She could feel the icy hand of death reaching for the tiny baby in her arms, and she had few ideas left to try.  
  
She sat down underneath a tree and laid the gasping infant in her lap so she could dig through her medicines. With trembling fingers she pulled out a plant she had found the day before. The plant was powerful for fighting infections, but it was too strong, certainly not meant for babies, human or pokemon. Yesterday evening she had given Madhea the mildest dose possible, even then knowing that it could easily harm Madhea as well as it could help her. But it had been the only thing that Madhea had shown improvement with, however temporarily.  
  
*Dare I use it again? This stays in the body for such a long time, and yesterday's dose did not have the full effect I wanted--curing her. It was not powerful enough a dose to fight the infection in itself, but it is so dangerous to babies. Madhea needs a stronger dose--but a second dose so soon either way could kill her.*  
  
A high-pitched, whooping squeak caught her attention, and Sharie looked down. To her horror, a fine shade of blue was around Madhea's lips and beginning to spread to other parts of her body.  
  
*How can I *not* do anything? I am a pokemon doctor, Damnit! I took an oath to save lives, human or pokemon! And Madhea, if you die, you will take my heart right with you!*  
  
She rapidly made up her mind--and mixed the dose as quickly as she could.  
  
The medicine would help or it would not. Either way it was Madhea's last chance.  
  
Madhea was gasping so hard it was a struggle to get the concoction down the little throat. Sharie could only cross her fingers and hope she was not too late. She wrapped up Madhea well and sat underneath a tree, praying and hoping.  
  
Sharie dared not move. She did not even get up to build a fire. She dared not lay Madhea down for a moment.  
  
The sun set, and darkness pressed in on all sides.  
  
Sharie never moved, she could only hold Madhea and pray, knowing nothing more could be done.  
  
Madhea struggled on.  
  
A few hours later, Sharie froze in fear to hear a sound she definelty did *not* want to hear.  
  
A strangling, rattling sound was coming from Madhea's chest. Unfortunately, Sharie recognized such a sound, a sound nobody in their lives should ever have to hear.  
  
Death wheezes.  
  
"No!" she cried aloud. "Oh, Madhea!"  
  
The struggling chest went still, and there was an awful silence.  
  
"No..." Sharie whispered faintly, her heart reeling. "No, Madhea, please....no..."  
  
Desperately she clutched the baby to her heart. *No, Madhea, you deserve so much more than this! Please, baby, *fight*!*  
  
Her heart felt ripped to pieces as she began to tremble uncontrollably.  
  
In that same instant, something deep inside of her gave a faint *snap*.  
  
Sharie was unaware of it. Madhea had gone completely still, and the awful silence seemed to echo into infinity. The thought she did not want to think tried to penetrate her brain and was immediately rejected. *Madhea....is gone...no...oh please, no...*  
  
Her thoughts echoed in the silence of her own brain, unheeded and unanswered.  
  
Out of the blue, however, a strange feeling penetrated her body--like a bolt of lightning. Her fingertips started to tingle, the sensation spreading over her. Her whole body shook, and the weirdest feeling overcame her senses.  
  
If she could have looked into a mirror, she would have seen a bluish glow not only surrounding her body, but also Madhea's. But Sharie no longer had the will to even lift her head. Her heart was in shreds.  
  
Only another, sharper *snap* from deep inside her drew her attention, barely. It was like something in her had been severed. She could dimly feel the deepest depths of her own Psychic powers making a subtle shift, and she felt as if the life energy was being drained from her very soul, as if someone had yanked the plug on her lifeforce. Suddenly, she felt very weak and exhausted.  
  
But in her arms, the tiny body gave a little shudder, and a small squeak escaped Madhea's lips.  
  
Sharie drew in a sharp breath. Exhausted as she was, she was still very aware of the baby she held in her arms. *Can it be...?*  
  
Sharie opened her eyes. The blue glow had faded already, so she did not see it. Her now-weak arm fumbled to feel Madhea's chest. Her heart turned over to feel muscle spasms she had not thought to feel again. The small chest was again rapidly rising and falling, drawing in air. Madhea was still wheezing, but it was clear something had happened just in time. She was breathing!  
  
The thought penetrated the sudden haze in Sharie's brain. *She's alive! She was almost dead....and suddenly....but how?....*  
  
Another wave of weakness overcame Sharie's body, drawing her down into a deep darkness she could not avoid. Whatever had happened, she could not contemplate it....not just yet. Her last dim thought was.....*at least....Madhea's alive....*  
  
Sharie drew in a deep sigh of her own and sank against the tree she had been leaning on, Madhea still in her arms. All thoughts slid away for good as she lost total awareness of the world around her.  
  
****  
  
Sunlight streaming into her eyes was what finally awoke her. Well, that and the awful crick in her neck.  
  
Stifling a yawn, she suddenly became aware of a tiny bundle in her arms. Reality returned to her with a sharp jolt. Instantly, every iota of memory from last night's horrors flooded her senses. And being a psychic human, Sharie's memory was a lot more sharper than the average person's--something many in her family suffered from.  
  
*Madhea!*  
  
She moved aside the blanket-wrapped bundle in her arms.  
  
Madhea was asleep, but Sharie immediately noticed a difference when she touched the baby's face.  
  
No hint of fever remained. She was breathing at a normal rate, and the sound was only faintly wheezy.  
  
To Sharie's joyful amazement, Madhea had overcome her illness against the odds.  
  
Only one thing remained. The ghostly edge to Madhea's otherwise-purple skin tone. It was not as severe as before, but it was still noticeable. That and other subtle hints of her frailty. Sharie could only hope this was temporary.  
  
Sharie sank back against the tree. What on earth had happened last night? Madhea had been almost dead, breathing her last....and then suddenly....  
  
*Was it the medicine kicking in just in time? If it was, it was the most well-timing medicine I ever heard of. What about....that weird feeling I felt? My power...my energy....I felt it drained of me. Did *I* do something to Madhea? Even I don't know all of what I can do. It can't be....I could never....could I? Maybe it was both things.*  
  
Sharie really had no idea, and it would be a long while before she discovered exactly what had happened with her own power and how the bond she and Madhea shared might have something to do with it....  
  
But finding out would be months down the road.  
  
Sharie looked at Madhea's sleeping form and smiled. Whatever had happened, it was good. The crisis had passed. Perhaps now, Madhea would thrive. Silently she said a prayer of thanks, that Madhea had been spared to her. It had made her realize even more how much this innocent baby had touched her heart already, in ways she had never allowed anybody--except Amber, in some ways--to do before.  
  
And, she realized again with a pang, it would make parting with her all the harder when the time came.  
  
If she could even bring herself to do it, now.  
  
No. She had to. To try and keep Madhea with her would be selfish. She'd expose the existence of Mewtwo to the whole world if she kept Madhea with her. If Madhea grew up, both pokemon would be so powerful they'd be relentlessly hunted down by cruel humans eager to harness their powers. Even if Sharie resigned herself to wandering the world for the rest of her life, avoiding the rest of humanity and walking the world of the pokemon--something she'd considered doing for years--it would still place Madhea in danger. When Madhea was an adult she would be able to take care of herself, but right now she was far too vulnerable.  
  
*Plus,* Sharie mused, *I am human myself. To pokemon like Mewtwo I'd probably just contaminate her life in the long run. My own feelings are selfish and beside the point....Madhea's happiness will come first. She would be much better off with Mewtwo than she ever could be with me.*  
  
*And if she wants to stay with you?* asked a tiny voice in the back of her brain.  
  
It caught Sharie by surprise. She had forgotten about that--she would want Madhea to have as much freedom as she herself had in life, including choices on what she wanted to do. Before, she had been intent soley on making Madhea well.  
  
Now that she was better, the thought came to Sharie's mind again.  
  
*What if Madhea wants to stay? Can I interfere with her right to choose, over what might be best for her?*  
  
With a shudder, she realized something important. If she denied Madhea her rights to choose, she'd be no better than Giovanni. It would be the same as telling Madhea that she was below her simply because she was a pokemon.  
  
*Madhea, you are my equal. All pokemon are sentient just like humans. They deserve to live as they choose. In the end, I will leave the choice up to you, if you are old enough to understand. Being with Mewtwo would be your best option, but if you choose otherwise, I will do anything to make you happy and protect you. On this I swear, for whatever my word is worth.*  
  
****  
  
Sharie stretched her aching back and reached for the concoction she had been feeding Madhea. Hopefully, soon she'd be able to go off a liquid diet to the soft foods babies normally ate. Maybe in a few weeks she could eat the same as what Sharie herself ate.  
  
Sharie smiled inadvertently, realizing she was allowing herself the luxury of imagining Madhea growing older, now that her life was no longer in immediate danger.  
  
A sudden, tiny "mew" startled her out of her thoughts.  
  
She looked downwards, her purple eyes meeting Madhea's matching ones. Unclouded by fever, Madhea's eyes were so clear now--Sharie was so startled her other hand stilled from mixing the formula.  
  
"Mew," Madhea said again. The meaning of the word jolted Sharie back to reality.  
  
"Oh, right," she said aloud. "You're hungry."  
  
"Mew." For the first time, Madhea had the energy to try and talk, and also for the first real smile to escape her lips, not just the sickly smiles she'd granted Sharie before.  
  
"It's almost done, little one," Sharie assured her. "Here."  
  
Madhea's eyes never left hers even when Sharie pushed the spoon into her mouth. For the first time, Madhea had the energy to really contemplate the world around her, and now she was investigating Sharie's gaze with a deep, inquisitive stare.  
  
Their silent communication was so intense that Sharie was only barely aware when Madhea sucked down the formula in record time. Sharie started, coming back to reality and removing the spoon from the infant's mouth.  
  
Madhea swallowed and suddenly looked thoughtful.  
  
"Mew-mew?" she asked.  
  
Sharie outright grinned. This was the best of signs--Madhea was asking for more. Sharie was only too happy to oblige. Madhea downed almost five ounces before she was through. Filling the spoon so many times made Sharie decide that Madhea was strong enough for a bottle now until her body was strong enough for soft foods.  
  
After Madhea was finished, Sharie packed up her things, intent on continuing her journey. Madhea remained awake and alert this time, her large eyes taking the world around her in an attempt to make up for what she had missed.  
  
The world on their side at last, they continued the journey to the nearest town.  
  
****  
  
As she walked along, Sharie realized something.   
  
She had not yet been bombarded by, or even sensed, any real psychic powers in Madhea as yet.  
  
*My goodness!* she thought, startled. *Does that mean she does not have them? Did Team Rocket mess up somehow?*  
  
She paused. *No, I think she has them, or at least, the potential. Mewtwo himself did not develope any psychic powers when he first came into being in that tube he was floating in....it took a few weeks for it to become obvious. And he grew to physical maturity in that chamber--all in six months. Madhea was grown from a zygote stage, different than the method used to clone Mewtwo, but that would not make much difference in the long run....would it? She was in the chamber close to five months, and yet is still a baby. It is thought to take her a year to go from birth to fully grown--at least, that's what the scientst projected, and I think they will be right. Mewtwo only grew differently because the method used to clone him was different. Other Psychic pokemon are not often born with their powers intact--they develop them as time goes on. I hope that is th case here.*  
  
It bothered Sharie. She stopped, staring down at Madhea. Silently, with a simple telepathic impulse, she asked permission to enter Madhea's mind.  
  
Madhea instinctively recognized the signature as a Psychic, and from somebody she had grown to trust. She did not seem to mind.  
  
That fact alone--that she recognized psychic power in others--was a good sign.  
  
Sharie did not touch the baby's intimate thoughts. She never did that with another living being, seeing it as an ultimate invasion of privacy. She only sought the sense of psychic power itself.  
  
It did not take her long to find what she was looking for.  
  
Right now, Madhea had a faint empathic sense functioning, but that was all. But Sharie sensed the potential for much more. Madhea's own developmental stage was holding it back--in other words, she would eventually gain her powers, gradually, as she got older. Right now, she was simply too young.  
  
Sharie immediately made up her mind on one thing--as soon as Madhea was capeable, she would teach the girl control, even before she began to have psychic onslaughts. Sharie well remembered the horrible pain she suffered each time her powers took on a new level, until she learned to control the new abilities. The better prepared Madhea was, the easier her chances.  
  
****  
  
The forest edge came upon them abruptly, and the trees thinned out. Sharie suddenly found herself overlooking an average-sized, bustling town.  
  
Seeing this, Sharie's knees suddenly became weak with relief. She wished she had the ability to Teleport without having been somewhere before. It would have made saving Madhea a lot easier. But she had never visited this specific town, and Teleporting took quite a bit of energy. That, and Sharie simply hated doing it. Thus, she had rarely used it.  
  
She looked around her, smiling in relief. The pokemon center was right on the edge of town, and nobody else was in the street at the moment. Sharie felt confident she could slip up to the place without being seen.  
  
Suddenly she saw a man come around the back of the pokecenter and enter the front. Sharie had not seen her Uncle Sanjan in years, and yet she recognized him immediately. This was the right place.  
  
Sharie decided to slip to the back entrance, for obvious reasons.   
  
She reached the door unseen.  
  
Quietly, she knocked.  
  
"Just a moment," came a femenine reply. Sharie recognized her Aunt Joy's voice.  
  
The door opened a moment later.  
  
"Yes, can I help you?" Nurse Joy appeared at the door and looked downwards a bit. Her blue eyes widened. "....oh, my goodness."  
  
It had taken a few seconds for Joy to recognize Sharie. It was her amethyst eyes that tipped the nurse off.  
  
"Sharie?" she whispered quietly. "Sharie Triesta--is that you?"  
  
Sharie nodded.  
  
"Who is it?" came her uncle's voice. He suddenly appeared at the door, and Sharie smiled up at him.  
  
"Sharie!" he exclaimed. "Why, I don't believe it! How did you get here, of all places?"  
  
"What, I can't come and visit?" she asked, smiling a smile similar to her father's.  
  
"Gods, how rarely I've seen you smile," he mused, happy to see her. "Come in, come in! What is that you're holding?"  
  
Madhea made a tiny cooing sound at that moment.  
  
"A baby," Sharie answered.  
  
Her uncle paused, raising his eyebrows. He shared a glance with his wife. "A baby....erm....I see. Uh....is it yours?" he cleared his throat.  
  
Sharie knew what was going on in his mind. "It is a baby pokemon, Uncle Sanjan. It is part of the reason I came to see you. I need supplies, if you can help. I have a long journey ahead of me."  
  
"My goodness, Sharie, how you've grown," said a third voice. Startled, Sharie looked up to see her Aunt Alyssa--her mother's sister and her uncle Daryn's ex-wife. She was smiling, but her eyes were sad. She was trying to hide the pain she always got when she looked at her neice, because she looked much like Amber had looked. "What is this about a pokemon baby?"  
  
"Weeelllll...." Sharie trailed off. "I am not sure how you are going to react. I came here for help, but....oh, well, look for yourselves."  
  
She unwrapped Madhea and held her up. The baby yawned softly and blinked, opening her eyes.  
  
For a few seconds, there was silence. Sharie knew full well all three individuals knew about Mewtwo. The incident on New Island had caused a local family furor for awhile.  
  
"Uh...." stammared Uncle Sanjan. "Where did you get the baby, Sharie?"  
  
Briefly, she told them an edited version of what she knew and where she had gone, and what the last few days had been like.  
  
And why she intended on finding Mewtwo.  
  
"It's dangerous," her uncle protested. "Mewtwo could kill you if you try and approach him. What Daryn and Donningan did was a foolish thing, getting involved with Team Rocket, even if it was a vain attempt at reclaiming Amber's life. I do not deny the fact Mewtwo should have been treated better than he was by either the scientists or Giovanni. But he's still dangerous. He may not like the thought of you seeking him or the fact that there is another like himself out there now, too, and could possibly suffer the same way he has suffered."  
  
Sharie was glad her uncle was so open-minded, even if he was voicing concerns. "Do you think I'd mistreat Madhea? I do not claim her as my property. She is no one's property, least of all Team Rocket's. The last few days have been horrific trying to keep her alive. She's much better now and I love her dearly. I will do what must be done to ensure her safety and happiness, and to set aside old wrongs done to Mewtwo himself in the past."  
  
Aunt Alyssa had been very quiet. Sharie could understand--Mewtwo probably was, to her, one of the compelling reasons Amber had been lost to her--not the first time, but the second. Mewtwo had survived.   
  
Amber had not.  
  
But suddenly Alyssa crept closer, her lips trembling.  
  
"May I see the baby?" she asked.  
  
Sharie wavered, but decided to trust her Aunt. Her Aunt Alyssa was one of the gentlest women Sharie knew. She was not one to fly into a rage of revenge. Besides, Mewtwo had not been directly responsible for Amber's death, the first or second time.  
  
Madhea did not seem to mind that she was transferred from arm to arm. She looked into Alyssa's eyes and uttered a small "mew".  
  
Alyssa felt a stab of pain in her heart. For the eyes were the color Amber's had been.  
  
Alyssa burst into tears, and cradled Madhea gently to her chest for several moments, releasing an awful grief she'd carried around for some time.  
  
"She's precious," the woman whispered, smiling the first real smile she had seen on her aunt in the longest time. "I understand now....."  
  
She did not say what, but Sharie had some inkling anyways. Alyssa had realized that the gulf between human and pokemon was not so great. Madhea, for all she was a pokemon, had called to Alyssa's heart the same way Amber had done.  
  
It was something the woman had badly needed. Sharie had sensed it, and so had Madhea, too, on some level.  
  
Gently, she handed Madhea back to Sharie. "Do what is best for her," Alyssa whispered. "Protect her at all costs. Keep her happy. Keep her *safe*. She deserves no less."  
  
Sharie suddenly smiled, and Alyssa reached out to touch her cheek. Sharie knew her aunt suddenly felt much better than she ever had in years.  
  
"I will," Sharie vowed. "I swear it. But...I have to call Da. Neither he nor uncle Daryn have heard from me since I left, and I can bet you guess why."  
  
"Team Rocket," all three answered.  
  
****  
  
"Well, I am just glad you are safe," said Donningan, when Sharie had finished telling him the story. She had even held up the now-sleeping Madhea for her father to see.  
  
"I can tell how attached you have grown to her," said Donningan. "And I am happy she survived and is out of Team Rocket's hands. Please, stay safe, Sharie. You are all I have left. I don't want to lose you as well. If all else fails--come home. We'll find some way of protecting Madhea together. You have no idea how much I want to make up for the past."  
  
Sharie smiled. "Don't worry, Da, I do have some idea. I will try my best to be fine. I will try to call once a month, at least. I just don't want to attract attention to myself right now. After I get stocked up and Madhea gets a thorough checkup, I am heading to Mt. Quena."  
  
"That could take weeks--even months," her father warned her.  
  
"I am prepared. Do not worry. I love you, Da."  
  
"I love you to, Angel," he said softly, his own amethyst eyes shimmering. "Good luck. Know all my love goes with you--and Madhea, too."  
  
Sharie smiled as she hung up the videophone.  
  
"I am glad you are done," her Aunt Alyssa said from behind her. "There is someone....there is someone I must call myself."  
  
Sharie nodded and quietly left the room. She did not hear her Aunt pick up the phone and dial a number.  
  
"Hello, Daryn?" she said to her ex, who answered the phone.  
  
"Alyssa?" he asked, dumbfounded.  
  
"Yes. Daryn....we need to talk."  
  
****  
  
A short while later, Sharie had not only stocked up on supplies, she had given Madhea a thorough physical.  
  
Now she knew why Madhea was keeping the ghostly edge to her. It was a lasting sign of her frailty--for the infection had indeed done permanent damage.   
  
To her immune system.  
  
It could take her years to recover from it, or ages in a pokecenter for such regeneration therapy that might or might not work.  
  
And, in the meantime, any flu or cold she caught, no matter how mild a strain, could easily turn severe.  
  
And, though she was no longer really sick and could thrive otherwise, a part of her would always be frail unless something could be done. Sharie did not want anything to inhibit her potential.  
  
Sharie knew that now she had all the more reason to visit Mt. Quena. The waters there could heal Madhea quickly, she hoped. Madhea would become as healthy and robust a child as she deserved to be.  
  
Early the next morning, all three adults came to see Sharie off. Nurse Joy was holding her sleepy daughter, Anya, in one arm, while she waved good-bye to Sharie with the other.  
  
Sharie waved goodbye once more before she turned and dissappeared back into the forest, this time in the direction of Mt. Quena. The journey would be long, and the challenges would probably not be easy, but all she had to do was look down at the sleeping Madhea and know that anything she did was worth it, if it would help her little companion and ensure her happiness. The sun rose brightly overhead, filtering down through the trees, and the scent of fresh lilacs was carried on the wind, bearing Sharie and Madhea onwards towards Mt. Quena.  
  
End Chapter 2  
  
Well....better, ne? Stay tuned for the next part, as Madhea gets older and they continue on their journey to find Mt. Quena and Mewtwo. 


	3. Thriving

Disclaimers 'n all of that royal nunsuch: If you don't know the routine by now, then boy, do I feel sorry for you. Nintendo and associates own Pokemon, I don't, they have my thanks for inventing such wonderful stuff, you know the rest. The only characters I own are the ones I made up.  
  
This is part three of "Of Moonlight Shadoes and Echoes Past." Here Madhea will finally be able to thrive as she and Sharie draw ever closer to Mt. Quena. As always, comments greatly appreciated. This part is more of a "tie-in" part connecting 2 and 4 than anything else, but still contains a great deal of important material. The stage is set for possible future events, and Madhea has a little growing to do. In fact, her growth patterns might seem a tad exxagerated but then again, nothing in the pokemon world would stand much ground in reality. At the very end comes a rather interesting story twist....  
  
Oh, yeah, as a last note, in my vocabulary, Violet means purple, not blue. A crayola crayon labeled violet is purple, not blue, and I go by that. So when I interchange the expression violet eyes with amethyst eyes occasionally, I am referring to the same shade. Anyone familiar with my "From the Stars" series will know how I pointed this out there, too....  
  
Of Moonlight Shadows and Echoes Past, chapter 3  
by ZeoViolet  
  
****  
  
At last, despite her frailty, Madhea was free to thrive.  
  
And thrive she did. It was not but a few days before Sharie noticed a weight gain and switched her from a bottle to soft foods--mostly fruit, as a Mew diet seemed to indicate. Thankfully fruit trees were plentiful in this forest.  
  
Now that she no longer was so worried about Madhea making it, Sharie concentrated on her physical strength. As she walked along she manipulated the little arms and legs, and at night, she encouraged Madhea to kick as much as possible and otherwise helped her to exercise. It was Sharie's aim to get the girl on her feet as soon as she was able. Madhea, too, wanted more freedom of movement than simply being carried, so she complied easily.  
  
The double effort soon paid off.  
  
****  
  
Madhea was just a little over a week old now. They had stopped for the night, and Sharie had set her down on a blanket while she set up camp.  
  
Madhea's intense gaze followed her every movement. Her eyes took everything in, and she kept studying how Sharie walked, wanting the same for herself. Sharie figured it was the reason why Madhea was so frustrated today.  
  
*I want to walk like that,* the girl thought to herself. She saw Sharie crawling around on the ground, reaching for firewood. Madhea already had decided crawling was not something she enjoyed. But she wanted the freedom of movement so she would not have to be carried *all* the time. Already she had developed the pokemon's sense of disliking enclosed spaces. Nature was wide open, not enclosed or restricted.  
  
Seeing Sharie stand on her toes to reach a high branch, Madhea could bear it no longer.  
  
She scooted to the edge of the tree she was under, and placed her little hands on the trunk. Her violet eyes narrowed in concentration as she struggled to get her tail to act as a center of balance, unsure of *quite* how it was done. This did not deter her, it only made her more determined. Her little fingers held onto the bark, and she pulled herself upwards until she was on the high tips of her toes, the way a Mewtwo was intended to stand.  
  
"Mew! Me-eeew!"  
  
Startled, Sharie turned around at Madhea's excited cry. She looked downwards, her eyes widening in astonishment. To her amazement, Madhea was *standing*, holding on tightly to a tree, but her face was flushed and her eyes triumphant.  
  
"Meeeew!" she squealed again.  
  
Sharie was frozen in surprise, but she was also suddenly very happy. Madhea was still very frail, her weak arms and legs were trembling, struggling to keep her upright, but already she had gained enough strength to stand on her own.  
  
"Oh, Madhea! You did it!" Sharie cried, forgetting about firewood. She whisked Madhea into her arms and whirled her around and around. "That's a big girl!"  
  
Madhea uttered a sound then, one that was rather startling to Sharie, for she could never recall Mewtwo ever making such a sound.  
  
The young girl Mewtwo laughed aloud.  
  
"Mew! Mew!"  
  
To Sharie's trained ears, it rendered as "I did it! I can stand now!"  
  
"It appears so," Sharie conceded, kissing Madhea's cheek.  
  
"Mew! Mew--mew, mew."  
  
Sharie was dumbfounded. "That's good and all, Madhea, but don't you think you should try getting used to standing before you try walking?"  
  
The look on Madhea's face became even more determined. "Mew!"  
  
Sharie sighed. From what she had read, the scientists had figured that being able to control Madhea from birth would make it much easier to bend her will. But it had become quickly clear to Sharie that Madhea's will was at least as powerful as Mewtwo's, if not moreso. If this had been the intents of the scientists, it would have been an utter failure.  
  
"Okay," she agreed. "We'll try a few steps. But hold on to me."  
  
She stood behind Madhea. Madhea lifted one graceful arm, and Sharie took her hand. The little pokemon then let go of the tree with her other hand. Moments later, Sharie was holding both hands securely, bending over her from behind. Madhea looked up and caught her eye, her amethyst eyes twinkling excitedly.  
  
"Let's go," Sharie urged. "One foot in front of the other."  
  
Madhea obeyed, but was rather startled by a wave of dizziness after moving just a few steps. Frustrated, she looked up into Sharie's eyes.  
  
"You aren't used to being upright, Madhea," Sharie answered calmly. "Give it time. You have to get used to it. Also, you need to use your tail to balance. Making both legs and your tail work together takes practice."  
  
"I will. I will practice every day. I want to walk."  
  
She tried a few more steps, while Sharie held her hands. This time, she did not get so dizzy.  
  
"That is enough for today," Sharie urged quietly. "Don't worry, Madhea. In a few days you will be running around as if you never had any cares in the world. You are getting stronger so fast I can't believe it."  
  
****  
  
Indeed, Sharie reflected that night, she couldn't believe it. It had not taken her long to discover the keen mind the child posessed. Even though Madhea had suffered greatly her first days, it had not affected her intelligence, which was turning out to be considerable. Madhea's large amethyst eyes missed nothing, and her senses were keen and sharp. Once she had gotten used to communicating, Madhea had started firing questions to Sharie about the world around her. Sharie answered patiently, at first simply so Madhea could understand, and then with more and more details as the girl's grasp of language and understanding grew at astonishing bounds--like most pokemon, Madhea was born with her language skills intact, a baby pokemon only needed exposure and practice to get used to the process.  
  
Sharie suspected the lonliness Madhea had endured back at the lab, where she had been left alone for so long, would probably haunt her for some time. It was sad that she had already experienced something of the world's cruelty--being abandoned without knowing why. Those first days she was so desperate for contact she had loudly protested when Sharie set her down, even for a minute. Now, thankfully, her need for physical contact was not as great as she discovered what a great thing independence was. Already her personality was developing a stability and security that would be a strong asset to her later on in life. It was the very stability and security Sharie had wanted her to have so desperately, somehing Sharie and--she knew--Mewtwo themselves lacked.  
  
It was the stability being loved and accepted by someone important to her granted her.  
  
Sharie felt that she had been loved, but the cruelties of others from her first days, making her feel different and inferior because she was different, had crushed any such stability she would have gained in knowing who she was and what she could do in the world.  
  
She sincerely hoped Madhea could make it without feeling the whole world was a cruel place that needed to be wiped out.  
  
As Sharie promised, within days Madhea was running around as if nothing had ever impeded her movements. She also began to grow quickly, putting on weight and inches where she needed them. She was still small enough to fit easily into one of Sharie's arms, but Sharie no longer worried that her growth would be affected.  
  
Two things happend around this time. Sharie began to train Madhea in various mental sheilding, before she even developed any powers, and Madhea discovered the world of reading.  
  
Sharie was astounded again. From just looking over her shoulder while Sharie worked on her handheld computer Madhea guessed what letters were for. Sharie only had to give her one brief explanation about the alphabet, and Madhea instantly connected the rest. She discovered Sharie's electronic encyclopeida, and now, while Sharie carried her when she was tired, she read, learning of the rest of the world beyond the forests of Johto. Sharie even threw in some instructions on medicine and healing others, and information about forest plants and their properties. It was information that Madhea might find useful one day.  
  
Sharie herself, while browsing the files the scientitsts had left behind about Madhea, discovered something interesting. It easily explained why Madhea seemed to know what other pokemon were on sight, when Sharie knew she had not been told before.  
  
Even while floating in the womb, Madhea had been exposed to educational tapes, telling her about some of the other pokemon known, their attacks, and their weaknesses, and other information concerning the outside world she would soon inhabit. The information was not complete, but Madhea certainly remembered what she had been taught.  
  
So Sharie added education to the list of things she was teaching Madhea. Soon, she knew, Madhea was going to start contemplating deeper questions, like why she was different and what her own purpose was, and why they were travelling this forest. In fact, she was probably thinking them already, and Sharie understood that Madhea sensed that she was unique in a world that had hardly seen her kind before. Sharie knew, too, that she had to be completely truthful with Madhea. The young pokemon deserved to know as soon as she ws able to understand just what the world could have in store for a young mewtwo.  
  
****  
  
An earsplitting shriek caught Sharie by surprise as they were walking along one day when Madhea was about three weeks old.  
  
The cry raced straight up Sharie's spine. She turned in horror. "Madhea!"  
  
Madhea screamed again, from where she was lying on the ground, holding her head in absolute agony.  
  
"It hurts! It's so loud! Sharie, why does it hurt so?"  
  
But she only screamed louder when Sharie approached.  
  
That caused Sharie to understand what was happening. She pushed up her own mental barriers as far as she could so Madhea could not sense her.  
  
Madhea was undergoing her first psychic surge.  
  
Sharie was shocked. She had been preparing Madhea for when this would happen, but neither of them had expected anything of this intensity. It had to be deafening poor Madhea's mind with pain and mental noise, to be overwhelmed by so many extrasensory feelings and powers at once.  
  
Sharie ended up having to forcibly pin Madhea's flailing little arms to her sides. She decided to use telepathy to introduce Madhea more to the concept of doing this herself, to get the girls to kick up the mental barriers she had been working on.  
  
*Madhea, you have got to calm down,* she said with her mind, the soothing psychic undercurrent causing Madhea to still somewhat. *It is shocking to you, I know. It still shocks me every time I have to suffer it. I will help you.*  
  
Indeed, even as she said it she pushed her own barriers around Madhea's mind as well, drowining out much of the mental noise for her. It was difficult--Sharie had not expected anywhere near this much power to pounce on the girl at one time, and her first time, at that.  
  
Madhea became completely quiet as she listened to Sharie's mental voice.  
  
*See how I am doing it, Madhea? Remember what I taught you? Can you raise your own barriers?*  
  
*I've had no powers to practice with, Sharie,* came Madhea's own thoughts along the link Sharie had established.  
  
*You do now. Do it just as I taught you. You will see how much such barriers can do for you. Pretty soon controlling your mind barriers will become so second nature you will forget you do it--you will even control them in your sleep. Go on, try.*  
  
Madhea did so, her body glowing with the effort of mentally picturing invisible barriers around the newly-awakened Psychic turbulence in her mind.  
  
Despite her efforts, the sheild was weak and wavery at best. Madhea struggled with it, knowing it had worked well before. But forcing it up against this monster invading her head....  
  
*Do not fight it, Madhea. Flow along with it. There, that's it.*  
  
Sharie sensed Madhea's heartbeat slow as she stopped her instinctive struggle against her own powers. She mimicked what she sensed Sharie doing with her own powers--allowing herself to harmonize with them. It was certainly a strange sensation but it felt better than fighting it, that was for sure.  
  
Sharie withdrew her mind completely, allowing Madhea full control of her senses once again. The rigid body in her arms relaxed. The girl sighed and leaned against Sharie tiredly.  
  
"Sharie?" she asked aloud, in her Mew language. "You are one of the few humans who can understand pokemon languages, aren't you? Especially without--well, linking your minds."  
  
"Yes, Madhea. Most people can't do natually what I can do, but most trainers of pokemon soon come to understand it anyways, at least deep down. That happens when trainers get close to their pokemon."  
  
"Still, I want everyone to understand me. You told me that there is another like me out there, and that he communicates only by telepathically projecting his thoughts. I want to try that, too. I could be more easily understood than simply....well, sounding like Mew."  
  
Sharie tilted Madhea's face upwards with her hand and looked her in the eyes. "Don't force yourself to do so if you really don't want to, or for anybody's sake but your own, Madhea," she said softly. "Do what your heart tells you is right. Mewtwo has probably never heard his own physical voice. You were born unable to use your powers right away, and your voice was the only way to do so. All pokemon have this instinct for language, very early on. All pokemon understand each other's language, and the human language, too."  
  
"Then why can't humans understand pokemon sub-languages? It must get frustrating, especially when some trainer captures a pokemon without asking them first."  
  
"That is why I never capture pokemon, Madhea. Few things are worse than ripping a pokemon away from their home without their consent. You I knew I had to save, though, and that was different entirely. Yes, I'll teach you that. And now that you have some control, I can teach you how to harness that power, not just bury it, if that is what you want. It might be a wise thing to do--the world is a big place, beautiful in some places, very dangerous in others."  
  
Madhea smiled at her. "You would really teach me?"  
  
"Sure. But Madhea, know this: I am training you, but I consider you my equal. I am not your master. I would never ask anything of you that you are not willing to give. I will never place you in a battle against another trainer. I can't take advantage of you like that. It was the original reason you were created in the first place, but you do not have to suffer such a fate. All living creatures, human *or* pokemon, deserve to live where and how they choose, and I do not consider that any different for you. Okay?"  
  
Madhea smiled. "Okay."  
  
****  
  
The weeks continued to pass. As Madhea grew, so did her understanding about the world around her. Sharie told her the full truth behind her creation, and of Mewtwo's history. Madhea also developed a full understanding of what it was to be different, in a world that saw her as different.  
  
However, besides absorbing all the love Sharie was capeable of giving her, she also developed a determination to make it in a world that saw her as unnatural. Madhea knew that she walked in the moonlight, in the shadow realm between light and dark, but she was determined to one day walk as freely in the sun as she would by moonlight.  
  
She did not fully understand, however, why Sharie, her human sister, would one day have to leave her.  
  
"Because there are those evil out there who would want to take advantage of you, Madhea, soely because you are growing so powerful." Sharie painfully answered to the best of her ability. "You were born different, Madhea, as I was, and must eventually walk the same shadowy path that I walk, and find your own way. Mewtwo would be able to teach you how to use your powers as well as I can, if not moreso. He will know that he is truly not alone in the world if you are with him. But at all costs I want you to be kept safe from others who would try to use you to their evil ends. Especially while you are so young. With Mewtwo helping you you would be much safer than you ever could be with me."  
  
"But I don't want to leave you!" Madhea protested. "You saved my life, and have given me more love than it seems a clone like myself would have ever been given. In all ways but blood alone you have been like my sister. You've cared for me like a mother but we bonded like sisters. How could I simply walk away and leave you alone, after all you have done for me?"  
  
"Oh, Madhea." Sharie hugged her little friend fiercely, her own heart hurting. "Do not worry about me. Helping you gave me my own sense of purpose for awhile, where before I was lost and floundering. After we depart I must continue to wander, and find my own path. There can't possibly be any other real place in the world for me. What is best for you and the greater good of everyone involved is what plays in my mind. Truthfully, this is the best thing that can be done for you, to keep you safe."  
  
Madhea trembled in her arms, and Sharie reassured her before the girl even thought what Sharie did not want her to think. "Do you think I want to leave you? That I desire to be rid of you? Heaven forbid!" Sharie's eyes grew bright and full of pain, and Madhea saw the deep feelings in their depths reflecting what she was speaking out loud. "When I leave you my heart will never be whole again, but I will cling to the thought that you are safe and that no scientist can experiment on you and put you in a cage, or no human will overcome your will and force you to bend to his. It was a horror I saw Mewtwo subjected to, and thank gods he broke free. Some cruel humans tried to treat me that way, too, behind my father's back. You will be with others life yourself, too, if you go. You won't be alone."  
  
Sharie pressed Madhea even closer to her heart. "But there is doubt whether Mewtwo will even tolerate my being around him. He truly hates my family for how he has suffered. You would have nothing to do with it. I am sure he would accept your presence. But he would never accept me. It is why I must leave."   
  
For many moments Madhea was silent, by now knowing the full story of Sharie's past links with Mewtwo.  
  
She was aware enough of the world and of her own self to know that Sharie was right, the world probably would never fully accept her as she was--an enhanced pokemon clone. To many, she was an unnatural carbon copy, a reflection, nothing more than a shadow with no real life or substance. At least with Mewtwo and his other clones she would not be alone, and be with others like herself if Mewtwo agreed to it. She had become as aware of the shadows she walked in as Sharie was.  
  
Madhea pulled back and looked at Sharie's face. She was staring off into the distance, struggling unsuccessfully to control the emotions playing across her face. Madhea frowned, knowing how much Sharie loved her. That she had never doubted and did not have to think about twice. She also knew she was everything to Sharie, and the human girl was everything to her. The look of heartbreak Sharie was trying to hide from her now spoke volumes. She would happily follow Sharie anywhere, and hang the risk to herself. All she really wanted right now was to stay with the one person who could truly understand her.  
  
"Sharie?" she asked at last. "Would you force me to stay with him?"  
  
For a moment, Sharie was surprised. She remembered how she had warred with herself ages before over the very same question.  
  
"No," she answered honestly. "I would be going against everything I was, and everything I've taught you, if I did not allow you to have the same freedoms as every being, human or pokemon deserves. That includes choice. According to many people's standards, Madhea, we do not fit, do not belong. We are not normal. We must make our own standards and decide for ourselves what normal is if we are to survive at all, or find a place to belong. And yet--being unique is just as important. I know I don't want to be like everyone else, no matter what I've been through."  
  
She rocked back and frorth, still holding Madhea tightly. "The best thing for you would be staying with Mewtwo, far from the world and man, at least until you are grown and able to fully take care of yourself and your ever-growing powers. And to Mewtwo, especially from someone like me.  
  
"I would also be selfish if I simply kept you with me without giving you the chance to be as free and happy as you deserve to be, even though leaving you will tear my heart out. You'd be exposed to dangers I would never want for you."  
  
With a deep breath Sharie voiced the vow she had made long ago out loud for Madhea to hear. "But if, after meeting Mewtwo and the other clones, your heart's deepest pull is the desire to remain with me at all costs, then I swear to you, Madhea, I will be willing to have you at my side. I will do everything I can to protect you and we will find our own way in the shadowland we have walked. The choice is going to be far from easy, but in the end, the decision will be yours alone."  
  
Madhea understood how important a decision it was, but how could anything change her heart's desire? Could she ever be happy living far away from the world, with a small crowd of other clones--and Mewtwo, the one living soul on this planet who was like herself? Could he ever understand her as well as Sharie did? Could they share what she did with Sharie?  
  
It was hard, going with what Sharie desired for her and knowing it was for the best. Sharie would never rest easy unless she knew Madhea was safe. That versus going with Sharie at all costs, even if she had to be exposed to a world full of dangers. The weight of this decision, Sharie had told her, would, in the end, likely rest on her shoulders alone. Madhea also suddenly understood something Sharie had not voiced, but had surely considered herself--that the consequences of each decision could be far-flung. She could not just make such a choice on impulse. She would have to see what both sides of the choice offered her, both good and bad and weigh it all for herself. Madhea, in the end, alone would have to search her heart and make what she felt would be the best decision.  
  
****  
  
One night, a few nights later, Sharie had a strange dream. One that was certainly unusual, but also vividly real.  
  
Deep within the earth, she sensed a danger. It ran so deeply that usually it would only be pokemon themselves that would be aware of it. What kind of danger she could not tell.  
  
The dream shifted, and she suddenly saw herself asleep--like her spirit had left her body and was standing beside it.  
  
In the dark came a flutter, and a green blur approached the sleeping human and pokemon. Sharie could not clearly make out the pokemon's face, but she saw a small green body with delicate, almost transparent, wings flying around in the shadows. The small figure stopped and hovered over the sleeping pair fo a moment, as if hesistating. Sharie saw a pair of eyes in the pokemon flash, and her own body glowed for an instant.  
  
The small creature made a sound of satisfaction. From nowhere came a sparkle, and a small object appeared in its hand--an amethyst-colored stone set in what looked like a diamond-shape cut from a seashell or porcelain. The pokemon seemed to regard it for a moment, then lowered itself to the ground.  
  
Gently, it pushed the object into Sharie's still hand.   
  
The figure rose and looked at her a moment longer. Sharie herself, watching this, could not move.  
  
With a sparkle, the small green figure then vanished.  
  
And Sharie woke up.  
  
****  
  
For a moment, she sat there, breathing hard, suddenly seeing the pink in the east telling her it was nearly sunrise. *What a strange dream. Why would I dream that? What did that...figure put into my hand, in the dream?*  
  
Her hand!  
  
She drew in a sharp breath. Her hand was curled around something! Something small....  
  
She brought her hand up close to her eyes and slowly uncurled her fingers. She was not sure whether to be afraid or awed. Only one thing was clear.  
  
Her dream had been very real.  
  
In her hand was the mysterious object she had seen put into her hand in the middle of the night. In the early morning light, the amethyst-colored stone sparkled brightly, and the material it was set in did indeed feel like a seashell.  
  
Sharie let out a breath she had not realized she had been holding. So someone had visited her during the night and given her....something. But--what was it for?  
  
When Madhea awoke a few minutes later, Sharie was still staring at the charm, her face deeply contemplative.  
  
She did not even see Madhea watching her, and jumped a bit when Madhea spoke using the psychic voice projection she had come to favor.  
  
"I never saw you wear that piece of jewelry before, Sharie."  
  
Sharie looked at Madhea, but still felt unable to say anything. She held it up between them, the sunlight catching on the jewel in the center. It was the exact same color as their eyes.  
  
"I've never worn it before, that is why," she said slowly, finding her voice at last. "We had a visitor last night, Madhea, and I have no idea why this was put in my hands."  
  
Now able to talk, she told Madhea what she had seen.  
  
"A green creature?" Madhea asked. "Was it a pokemon?"  
  
"I don't know, Madhea. I did not recognize it. I could not even see it's face clearly."  
  
"Better keep it, then," said Madhea. "Maybe there was a reason it was given to you."  
  
Sharie wasn't sure, but Madhea's words did carry merit. She strung the charm around her neck on the same chain she kept a golden locket she always wore, for safekeeping.  
  
Whatever the reason for the charm, she did not know why as yet.  
  
****  
  
More weeks passed.  
  
Madhea was now three months old. She had continued to grow rapidly, now the size of a small child. Except for the continuing hints of her frail side, she had thrived. With all the love Sharie had given her during her early vital months, there was a security and stability about her nature that both Sharie and Mewtwo themselves had missed out on. When she did something she was sure of herself and her actions, and did not doubt every little thing. Part of Madhea was happy and easygoing, mixed with a side of her that was just as serious, and deeply contemplative, seeing a world in far deeper tones than most people would normally see things or even think about them. Perhaps, Sharie reflected, this would be the greatest trait she shared with the one like herself, Mewtwo.  
  
She had become an odd mix of personality traits, too--in some ways, Madhea acted her age, loving to play and have fun like any child would do. But she also strongly reflected the deep wisdom she had been born with and Sharie had encouraged to grow. It was the mind of a child with the intelligence and reasoning of a much older person, pokemon or human. It was a mix that could easily get her into trouble.....or give her the ability to quickly think her way out of it.  
  
Madhea's powers had continued to surge out of control several times. Each time Sharie had brought her under control and trained her in various uses, but Sharie could not fully explain why it was happening in this manner. It was nothing the scientists had done, for they had done the exact same enhancements to Madhea as they had done to Mewtwo, and Sharie had long since determined that they had not messed up anywhere. Sharie's best guess was that the Mew she had been cloned from also had powers of such a quirky nature.  
  
The way Sharie was training Madhea was vastly different than what Giovanni had used on Mewtwo. They worked together, often becoming like one mind at times. Sharie had her own signature attack, the Psychic Triwave attack. It was an attack she had discovered herself years before while experimenting with her abilities. No psychic pokemon she had ever met knew it offhand, much less any other psychic *human*, even her father. It wasn't known to science or the League in general. However, she found out that some psychic pokemon were capeable of learning it. She had already taught her father's favorite Alakazam--the same one who had first told her father she was Psychic as a baby--and an Espeon at another lab such a move. She had even taught her father such a move, though it was on a much weaker scale. Using his psychic powers for attack purposes was not a talent of his. Still, it was a rare move and she felt safe passing it on to Madhea.  
  
With Madhea's consent, Sharie had also set out to do what Giovanni, in his arrogance, had not thought of to do--teach Madhea moves outside her type. Giovanni had found Mewtwo so powerful that training his Psychic powers was all that he felt was necessary. Telekenetically Mewtwo might be able to control elements, like kicking up storm clouds or summoning waves of water from nearby water sources. Even controlling temperature he could do telekenetically. But using the actual move type itself, outright Water Gun or Blizzard, Sharie doubted he had been trained on.  
  
But with so many new pokemon discovered, and the discovery of the Dark type, she did not want Madhea relying on just that and nothing more. Rumor had it that Mew was capeable of learning all the specialty moves of other pokemon. Sharie decided to put this to the test, and already Madhea knew a wide variety of moves besides Psychic ones.  
  
For her own safety, Sharie also made sure her Physical Attack also grew as well as her Special abilities. Madhea's health continued to improve as constant exercise increased her Defense as well as her Special Defense abilitiy.  
  
For the most part, Madhea was healthy now. There was one dark shadow, though. A few weeks before Madhea had caught a case of pokemon flu. In most pokemon, this was very mild.  
  
In Madhea it had turned into something very serious. Her weak immune system could not handle it. It had taken three days before Sharie had overcome the flu in Madhea with the constant care she gave.  
  
In fact, she was amazed she did not catch it herself--humans weren't exactly immune. Maybe she had, and just did not know it--she seemed to grow increasingly worn out as the days passed, although she strove her utmost to hide this from Madhea.  
  
For now, Madhea was fine.  
  
The flu incident only doubled Sharie's conviction, however, to get to Mt. Quena. Madhea was extremely powerful now, her stats going higher in leaps and bounds every day that passed.  
  
None of that would do her any good with her frail edge still able to kill her. It was Sharie's ferverent hope that the waters hidden in the depths of Mt. Quena would remove Madhea's weakness, take away the ghostly pallor to Madhea's skin, and restore her to full health. Maybe it would also unleash the hidden potiential Madhea had, the powers being held back from her because of this lasting frailty. The only danger she could think of is Madhea having so much power unleashed on her at once that neither one would be able to handle it. It was a risk Madhea had said she was willing to take.  
  
Whatever the outcome, Sharie at least wanted her to be fully healthy. Madhea deserved so much more than what she was limited to now, even though she was already as powerful as many other pokemon were ever likely to be.  
  
****  
  
Sharie and Madhea broke through the forst edge one day, and an awesome sight greeted them, leaving both a bit breathless from wonder.  
  
In the far distance rose, at a great height, the Johto reigon's greatest natural wonder.  
  
Mt. Quena!  
  
Sharie was the first to find her voice. "That's it, Madhea! That is Mt. Quena! Isn't it grand?"  
  
Madhea's eyes were wide. "And Mewtwo actually lived at the top of that thing? Mt. Quena is out in the open!"  
  
Sharie reached down and picked her up, hugging her absently. "Look around you, kiddo. The geographical traits of this area are pretty unique. From now on we could be buffeted by storms, blizzards, or even typhoons. Very few humans ever visit this area, and even fewer have ever *considered* trying to climb Mt. Quena. Of the few that have, only a fraction of them remember it, due to Mewtwo's erasing their memory. Luna Carson and Cullen Calix are the only humans around for miles, and even they don't remember."  
  
"But you said they were good guys, not nasty like Giovanni," mused Madhea.  
  
Their hearts are in the right place, but most of the problem, I think, was Cullen. He is a medical researcher for humans, and his emphasis on the waters of the spring and clarity lake were for exploiting them for human needs. He cared about pokemon and all of that--he even sacrificed his first sample to save a couple of pikachus--but his mind dwelled a little too much on what it could mean for humans. In those instances, he forgot about pokemon. He would probably have still tried to expose the secret of Mt. Quena's waters to the ouside world. Mewtwo did not want that chance taken. Luna most likely would not have herself, but she had developed feelings for Cullen. I think Mewtwo decided it was best if she was left in the dark as well."  
  
"Mewtwo would not do that to you, would he?" asked Madhea anxiously. "You've taught me how to resist someone trying to telepathically erase my memory, but are you strong enough to rebuff Mewtwo if he tries?"  
  
It was one time Sharie was able to provide Madhea with a clear answer. "Madhea, I believe that is the one area where I know how I stand against Mewtwo. For some reason, I have always been obsessed with protecting myself against mental intrusion, to the point I am sure not even Mewtwo can do it. Other than that, though, it is likely his powers supercedes mine easily. Besides," Sharie turned and planted a quick kiss on Madhea's forehead. "I don't want to forget you, Madhea. Losing you will be bad enough, if you stay. Losing your memory would be doubtless much worse, because Mewtwo can try to erase the memories in my mind--but the memories in my heart can never be breached. And that area, my little friend, is where the bond we share resides, and my love for you. That, I can never forget."  
  
Madhea hugged her fiercely. "Neither will I," she vowed. "Neither will I! Whether I leave or stay, what we have shared I swear I wll never forget! You gave me life, and you have loved me with everything you have. I will never forget."  
  
"And Madhea, you gave me the ability to feel inside my heart again for the first time in more years than I can count. After all we have shared, I could never forget it, either, no matter what the outcome is to be. Come on. Mt. Quena isn't far now."  
  
****  
  
They had barely started walking again when an enormous roar stopped them in mid-step.  
  
Beneath their feet, the ground shook.  
  
Another series of loud roars filled the air, and the area around them quivered.  
  
From behind Sharie, Madhea gave a gasp and lost her footing. She had to clutch at Sharie's slender legs before she hit the ground.  
  
"Mew!" she cried aloud, so starlted she forgot to speak psychically. "What's happening?"  
  
"I don't know," Sharie answered. "That is too loud to be just any pokemon battle! There may be trouble, Madhea--we must see what is going on. Someone may be hurt!"  
  
Another searis of roaring quakes knocked Sharie flat, and Madhea stumbled with her. Dizzily Sharie made her way to her feet, ignoring the sudden pain in her ankle.  
  
"Stay behind me, Madhea!" she warned.   
  
Together, they approached a hill that ended abruptly, telling Sharie there was a cliff below it. The roars seemed to be coming from below.  
  
Cautiosly, Sharie scooted to the edge, gripping the grass for all she was worth. The strong ground quakes could easily knock her over the cliff edge so fast she would not be able to telepathically fly out of harm's way before she hit the ground and killed herself.  
  
On her stomach, she scooted over to the edge of the cliff and peered downards.  
  
The sight that greeted her shocked her clear to her toes.  
  
This was not how she pictured she would meet Mewtwo--trying vainly to battle off a crazed Tyranitaur!  
  
****  
  
Sharie came out of her shock moments later when Madhea edged up beside her and peered over the cliff herself, seeing what was below. She gave a soundless gasp at what she saw, then turned huge, scared eyes to Sharie.  
  
Sharie already was pulling her pokedex from her pack.  
  
"That is a Tyranitaur like I told you about," she said softly. "Rarer even than Dragonite. Probably one of the greatest danger to any psychic pokemon ever. Let me see it's level...."  
  
The pokedex gave her a reading on the monster's level.  
  
Sharie almost fell over the cliff in surprise. No wonder Mewtwo, a Legendary Pokemon, was having such trouble!  
  
That Tyranitaur was at level 100! Peak level!  
  
Twin sets of amethyst eyes met each other's. Both knew that if they did not do something fast, even a legendary pokemon like Mewtwo could well be history.  
  
But what could be done?  
  
****  
  
End chapter 3.  
  
Got interesting towards the end, eh? Keep an eye out for part 4, when Mewtwo meets Sharie and Madhea for the first time. How are they going to react? Can they fight off such a pokemon? Because not only is Tyranitaur a dark-type, he is surely at a much higher level than even Mewtwo is....stay tuned. 


	4. Confrontation

Disclaimers and hoopla: Nintendo and company own Pokemon, I don't. Please don't sue. I have no money. And besides, it's free publicity. Part 4 of "Moonlight Shadows and Echoes Past".  
  
Much of the PG-13 comes in here for violence. Imagine yourself in battle with a crazed Tyranitar and you can guess why. In this section, *finally*, Mewtwo, Sharie, and Madhea come face-to-face for the first time. Enjoy, and please tell me what you think. Feedback helps me along. I know there is a lot of dialogue in this one but it is necessary--Mewtwo won't know what to make of these strangers at first. And thank you, Mystic Mewtwo, for your continued encouragement--especially since I am 21 years old and like pokemon anyways. I've since learned that there are much older pokemon fans out there :D  
  
Of Moonlight Shadows and Echoes Past, chapter 4  
By ZeoViolet  
  
****  
  
This was a real problem.  
  
Mewtwo was a Legendary Pokemon. One of the most powerful in the world.  
  
The Tyranitar was completely unaffected by Mewtwo's psychic attacks, and Mewtwo was losing rapidly. The Tyranitar was also, evidently, many levels higher and equipped with numerous powerful attacks--including dark attacks, the biggest weakness of any Psychic.  
  
From her vintage point, Sharie could see the astonishment in Mewtwo's face as none of his attacks had any effect. Obviously, this was his first encounter with a dark-type pokemon.  
  
Sharie figured she should not be surprised. It was only recently that another huge wave of pokemon had been discovered. Mewtwo had escaped at the time when the number known was not much higher than 150. He had forcibly isolated himself and his fellow clones since then.  
  
So the fact that this pokemon was not affected by his attacks was as much a shock to him as the fact that he was losing the battle.  
  
"What do we do?" whispered Madhea mentally. "We can't just....leave him there."  
  
Sharie shook her head. "Yes, we must help. But outright attacking that creature would be suicide. You are a Psychic pokemon also, and I can only do a few attacks outside of Psychic myself. I can't talk to a dark-type telepathically or even enter their minds against their will, even if I tried. They have to grant permission. I will see if I can contact Mewtwo telepathically. Maybe from here I can help him hold that beast off until we can get closer."  
  
"Be careful," warned Madhea.  
  
Sharie nodded, closing her eyes for a moment and drawing in a deep breath. Praying this went right and Mewtwo would hear her, she sent a simple, one-word thought.  
  
*Mewtwo.*  
  
She opened her eyes. She saw him visibly start, but he had not known where her voice had come from. The giant beast used Faint Attack on him, so fast Mewtwo was knocked flat backwards. Again the ground shook.  
  
*Mewtwo. Can you hear me?*  
  
"Who is it?" he sounded startled, and she could hear his psychic voice from where she was at.  
  
*Mewtwo, the creature you are battling is called a Tyranitar. It is a dark-type pokemon.*  
  
"So? Where are you? I have little time for a lesson in pokemon, and I have never heard of a Dark type."  
  
*This information could save your tail, Mewtwo. Dark-types were recently discovered. They are completely, and I mean *completely*, immune to Psychic attacks--of any kind. Nothing you throw at it can harm it. And what's more, that pokemon is at peak level--level 100.*  
  
"That is news to me. Where are you? How do you know my name?"  
  
*I am up above you. I can answer the rest of your questions later. Right now I want to help you.*  
  
The Tyrantiar pinned him against the opposite cliff wall, and Mewtwo struggled as his eyes travelled upwards.  
  
He was so shocked he froze, not a good thing to do with another pinning you, by your throat, against a cliff wall.  
  
Staring down at him was a pair of amethyst eyes idencial in color to his own--but set in a face that was very clearly human, young, and female.  
  
It was a human teenage girl!  
  
"Who are you?" he asked again, struggling against his opponent. "How can you even talk to me this way?"  
  
*Later, Mewtwo. Listen to me, I beg of you. Tyranitar are dark pokemon, but they are also of the rock type. Listen carefully--Mews are said to be able to learn almost all special attacks of other pokemon. Giovanni did not train you to do that. But I see no reason why you can't yourself, if you try. Little else you do can affect the Tyranitar. Deep within you are the abilities to not just control temperature, but things like water attacks as well, and ice attacks. Rock pokemon are weak to water. Ice is not a total weakness but won't help him, either. You must look inside yourself--find that way of manipulating power that you've always had, but you've simply never used. I will try to get closer and help you."  
  
Her mention of Giovanni froze him, but the Tyranitar's sinking of his teeth into Mewtwo's shoulder in a Bite attack, nearly breaking it in the process, swiftly drew his attention away. He would have to contemplate that later. He did not know exactly who--or *what*--he was, but this was not how he pictured he would meet his end.  
  
Were her words even true? He hoped he lived long enough to find out. Rock pokemon were weak to--what else? Fighting attacks! He did know a few of those.   
  
Struggling hard, he forced the Tyrantiar's teeth out of his shoulder, dimly shocked he did not bleed more than a little. He put his hands up to the clawed hand about his throat, and at the same time, kicked hard with the fighting-move energy he had learned to use long ago under Giovanni.  
  
Something happened, for the pokemon let go of him, bellowing in pain.  
  
Weakly Mewtwo sank to the ground.  
  
*Now, Mewtwo! Try! He is not going to be dazed for long!*  
  
Mewtwo had little time to think. How could he do something so fast, when he had never done it before?  
  
Vaguely, he remebered the sensations he had picked up from Dewgong and Vaporeon when they used their ice attacks. His heart beat fast as he looked inside himself, searching for a way of manipulating his energy in a way he nad not tried before--in a similar fashion to what he had felt his fellow clones do.  
  
To his utter surprise, he found that the power did indeed respond, in many differnet ways. But which one was which....how could he make that energy into a water or ice-type attack?  
  
His first attempt a failure, he opened his eyes in horror, seeing that the Tyranitar was opening his mouth, and preparing to unleash a Hyper Beam. He had to fight himself to keep concentrating. At level 100, that would surely even finish him off.  
  
Out of nowhere came a blast of freezingly cold wind. Suddenly, the Tyranitar slipped and staggered, the victim of an Ice Beam. Where from, Mewtwo hadn't a clue.  
  
*You can do it, Mewtwo! Try again, while he is distracted! Summon a Blizzard or Hydro Pump! I will try and summon the water from the river to help you.*  
  
*Summon....how can she summon....* He had no time to dwell on her words. Mewtwo summoned the last of his energy, and manipulated the type of energy he unleashed with all his limited ability. Around him, the temperature dropped abruptly as it finally responded to his wishes.  
  
There was a fierce howling, shrieking wind as Mewtwo hit the Tyranitar with a full-force Blizzard attack. It hit the fierce creature point-blank, and he staggered with the sever blow to his HP level.  
  
To Mewtwo's shock, the nearby river decided, at that moment, to take on a life of it's own. A huge wave came up and neatly plucked the Tyranitar away, sloshing him into the river currents and sweeping him downstream, all in a flash, while leaving Mewtwo untouched.  
  
Just before he dropped again, Mewtwo looked up in time to see the girl's eyes glowing the color his did when he used his powers!  
  
With a sigh, he dropped. He did not quite faint, but his energy was gone. Whomever the girl was, she had caught him at a very vulnerable moment.  
  
Knowing Mewtwo was out of immediate danger, Sharie turned and, Madhea at her heels, skittered down the cliff edge, around the sides where it wasn't so steep. Heedless of her own safety, she knew that she had to help Mewtwo, even if she was placing herself at risk.  
  
When she reached him, his eyes were closed and he was nearly limp, except for his gritting his teeth in utter pain. That told her he wasn't quite unconcious. However, he surely *looked* in bad shape.  
  
"Are you okay?" he heard a human female voice, speaking aloud this time. "That was close--fully evolved Tyrantar are extremely rare, even moreso than Dragonite, and even more powerful. I never thought I'd see one, much less a wild one at it's highest level."  
  
He opened his eyes weakly to see the strange human girl digging in her pack. She pulled out something.  
  
"Here." she was speaking quietly, as if she was aware of how much he was hurting and did not want to add to it. "This is Full Restore. It will heal you quickly."  
  
She held the small vial to his mouth, and to his own utter surprise, he did not protest the movement.  
  
"I know your trust in humans is limited," she said quietly. "But drink this. I would not harm you."  
  
*How does she know?* His amethyst eyes met hers, and he saw sincerity in them. Plus, he was in too much pain to put up much of a protest at the moment. Gently she supported his head so he could swallow the contents of the vial in one quick movement, before gritting his teth again against the pain.  
  
Almost immediately, however, he could feel new strength flooding his tissues. Holding back a groan, he sat up, opening his eyes and looking at her again.  
  
"You saved my life there, and for that, I do thank you," he admitted quietly, not sure in the least of what to make of her. "But now--who are you? How do you know my name and so much about me?"  
  
"My name is Sharie Triesta," she said quietly. "I came looking for you, Mewtwo."  
  
"And how do you know my name?" he asked, staring at her, regarding her closely--and cautiously.  
  
"Because I have known of you for a long time. I have always known of you."  
  
The way she said it made him scrutiny her even closer. Was it just his imagination, or did she seem familiar? The face--the eyes--where had he seen someone similar to her before? Except--a man...That Triesta man...those brothers...no...it was not possible....was it?  
  
"It was not for myself that I came seeking you," said Sharie. "But for someone else entirely."  
  
"Are you--" Mewtwo began, then stopped at the sudden movement as a smaller form appeared at Sharie's side. He absolutely froze, unable to start again.  
  
He had seen Madhea.  
  
****  
  
For several seconds, Mewtwo and Madhea could only stare at each other, her calmly, him with utter and total shock.  
  
Sharie rose quietly and placed a protective hand on Madhea's shoulder, not knowing for certain what Mewtwo's reation would be.  
  
The protective nature of her movements finally drew Mewtwo's attention, at least a little.  
  
"Another....like myself?" he asked, dumbfounded. He was too shocked to be angry. "Another Mewtwo?"  
  
Sharie nodded, clearly on guard. "Yes. Madhea is the reason I came seeking you."  
  
*That* seemed to finally unlock Mewtwo from his trancelike state. Abruptly, he stood up, ignoring the screaming pain in his body.  
  
"Who are you?!" he fairly demanded. "How is it that you have a Mewtwo, and a small one at that, eagerly obeying you like some slave?"  
  
Sharie kept her hands tightly on Madhea's shoulders. She had rather expected this reaction, but was taking no chances. She did not like his change in tone at any rate. "Madhea does not belong to me. As I said, she is the reason I sought you out."  
  
"I heard you mention Giovanni," he said, clearly on his guard and fighting impulse at the moment. Not just yet--not until he knew for certain what he was dealing with. "Are you Team Rocket?"  
  
"Absolutely not! I know better than to wade in such evil. Besides, you erased most of their memory of you."  
  
"Then how do you know so much of me?" Mewtwo was growing impatient, and Sharie knew she could not really fault him.   
  
She also could not lie to him. He did not deserve lies--not after all he had been through.  
  
"I am not Team Rocket," she said again, then braced herself and stood directly in front of Madhea, to protect her. "My father and Uncle were the scientists who created you, Mewtwo."  
  
She saw him clench his hands into fists, and saw him tense, as if suddenly fighting some deep impulse borne of rage. She figured she knew what kind of emotions and thoughts were reeling in his mind. She herself tensed, but he made no other move. He was quiet for a long time.  
  
"Triesta's kid?" When he did speak, he sounded very bitter, and justifiably so.  
  
"They survived the destruction to New Island, Mewtwo."  
  
"And went on to create more clones?" he asked, bitterly, holding his anger tightly in check. "Is there a whole army now that I know nothing about?"  
  
"Madhea is the only other. Neither my father, Donningan, nor my uncle Daryn were responsible for creating her. Team Rocket stole their techniques. She was cloned in a different fashion, from an ovum. She was born at fetal maturity instead of physical maturity like you were. That is why she looks like a child, because she is one."  
  
Mewtwo was staring at her again, saying nothing, just wanting explanations before he judged their fate. Sharie herself still felt like she was standing on the executioner's block.  
  
"You erased most of Team Rocket's memory of you," she said softly. "Months ago right here at Mt. Quena. Most of the scientists creating her were called away for a few days to help plan your recapture. Only one remembered, because he had been left behind at the airbase. He alone remebered Madhea was still floating somewhere in an artificial womb. He felt guilty. He wrote to my father and confessed everything. When I found Madhea she was almost dead from neglect. Nobody remembered her so nobody returned."  
  
Something else flashed in Mewtwo's eyes at her words--pain.  
  
"How would you know so much about so many intimate parts of my life--unless you were involved?" he ground out. "You were responsible for that wave of water, and you can talk to me with your mind. I don't know in the least how you did it, but someone with your ability would have been snapped up by Team Rocket long ago."  
  
"I have no explanations for my powers. I was born with them. My family has a long history of scientists and Psychics both. But what I have defies nature, different from everyone else's abilities. From the first they've stamped me as different and an outcast. Da's co-workers often treated me like I was an experiment subject and nothing more, and I am a scientist by training, no less. For whatever my word is worth, I swear to you I am not of Team Rocket and their evil filth. Madhea I brought to you for the same reasons you seek to escape humanity's grasp yourself."  
  
She saw his eyes widen. "Yes, I know of that. I know of how you attempted to take over the world from your fortress on New Island. From the beginning every time your life's path has taken a curve, I have known. I guess I am unusually tuned to pokemon. Something happens to you, I black out. The next thing I know I am standing beside you as it all happens. You can't see me, I can't talk to you. But I see, and I know. Down to the last lurid details."  
  
She had already said enough for him to know that, at least on that, she was not lying to him. The emotion blazing in her eyes had to be truth--no liar could look at him like that. He slowly walked around her, examining her every angle. Now he remembered feeling watched once or twice from within his own mind, at such critical moments in his life. Had that been her presence?  
  
He thought about scanning her mind, but her mental sheilds were so advanced he would have trouble getting through--and she would surely notice if she was a psychic human. He had heard of those--spoonbenders. But he had never heard of one who did what she had done.  
  
"If you are telling the truth, daughter of my creators," he said slowly, "then you know how I feel about your family."  
  
Numbly, she nodded her head.  
  
"And yet, you came to me. Did you believe bringing another to me, like myself, a pokemon--a *clone*--was worth the risk to yourself?"  
  
The slightly mocking edge startled her, but something in his eyes told her otherwise. He was testing her, she realized. Even so, she grew angry and hurt at his words.  
  
"How can you ask that?" she cried out. "Look at her!" She lifted up Madhea, who stared at him silently. The girl pokemon had yet to say a word to him, but her eyes were clearly following every word. Sharie went on angrily, unable to help herself.  
  
"This is Madhea! She is a living, breathing being! I rescued her from death and I have grown to love her in a way that I never allowed myself to feel before! And yet, I am human, a person that, in your own words, is a member of a dangerous race. She is not safe by my side. She is already very powerful, and she needs a place where she can grow up in safety and peace, away from greedy, evil humans like Giovanni or heartless scientists. Yes, it is damn well worth the risk to see to her safety and security, and overall, her happiness! I never had a purpose in my life until I met Madhea, and I am willing to go to any lengths to protect her. The best place she could be is with you, the only other one like herself. There is little proof of my words that I can offer you, Mewtwo, except my promise."  
  
Despite himself, Mewtwo was stunned speechless by her outburst. Could a person--a *human*--really care so much? Especially for another pokemon, a clone? A reflection, like himself--and a shadow?  
  
Sharie's eyes filled with fire. Even so, she spoke quietly, forcing her temper under control. "Madhea and I already have to walk in the shadows of moonlight," she whispered. "Please...don't condemn her to total darkness. What has happened to her was no fault of her own. She deserves her chance. You deserved yours. She needs hers."  
  
"I would not harm the child," he said, his voice now much more subdued. Now he had utter confusion to add to the mix of emotions in him now. "But--you--tell me one more thing. Did you come to Mt. Quena with any ulterior motive besides Madhea?"  
  
"Yes," Sharie answered without hesistation. "I came seeking the healing waters of Mt. Quena."  
  
****  
  
Mewtwo's eyes widened, and his mouth set. "I believe you have said the wrong thing, and if so, beware," he warned softly. "Why do you seek them?"  
  
"It is not for me," Sharie answered. She picked up Madhea again. "It is for Madhea's sake."  
  
His eyes questioned her.  
  
"When I first found Madhea, she was nearly dead. She was very tiny, even though she was past due to have been born from the artificial womb she had been floating in. The water had become contaminated, and she was very ill. It took me days to bring her out of it. But a side of her remains frail. Her immune system is crippled. A cold could kill her. Her coloring is not as it should be. That is why I seek the waters of Mt. Quena--for surely, it will restore her to full health and release her hidden potential. She deserves that much." Her eyes met with Mewtwo's again. "For this reason, and no other, do I seek Mt. Quena."  
  
Such emotion was blazing in her eyes he found he could not doubt the truth of her words. If she was telling the total truth, then was it possible she was...well, different from the rest of her family?  
  
To him, it was a doubtful question at best. But lessons learned the hard way were not often forgotten. Everyone deserved their second chance, and appearances were not always the truth. Ash had taught him, also, that it did not matter so much how a person was given the gift of life--it was how one used it that determined their identities. It seemed the case here--could he really throw away all he had ever learned, just because outside appearances told him something different than what he was sensing from the inside?  
  
And--what about the one like himself? The one whose sudden appearance made him realize he was not the only one like himself in the world?  
  
How did she see things? Was she Sharie's willing pokemon--or was she truly free, her will unbent or unbroken, as Sharie claimed?  
  
"Would you let me speak to her?" he asked. "She has not said a word to me. I want to know what she thinks."  
  
"That's because I have been watching you," said Madhea, out of the blue. "I do not want you to hurt Sharie. But go ahead, ask me anything. I'll try to answer."  
  
The sudden forwardness caught Mewtwo by surprise. She had spoken psychically, like he did, but the tone of her mental voice made it clear she was a girl and not a boy.  
  
"Would you come with me a ways?" he asked. "I want to speak to you alone."  
  
Madhea hesistated, and looked backwards at Sharie anxiously.  
  
"Don't worry, I will not suddenly whisk you away," Mewtwo assured her. At that, Madhea nodded and followed him a short distance away, where Sharie could still see them but could not outright hear their psychic voices.  
  
"Your name is Madhea?" Mewtwo asked.  
  
Madhea nodded. "Sharie gave that name to me. Better that then us both responding to the same name, I believe?"  
  
Despite himself, he smiled. Her intelligence was becoming quickly evident.  
  
"How much of me do you know, Madhea?" he asked quietly. "Are her words true, to your knowledge?"  
  
"Sharie is a good person, and a very honest one," came the answer. "She told me everything she knew about you. Giovanni trained you in psychic attacks only. He told you in a very cold fashion that you were created *by* humans to *obey* humans--that was your destiny. You did not take too kindly to the concept. I would not have, either."  
  
She had mimicked Giovanni in the way she said the words, and her imitation was so accurate it sent chills up Mewtwo's spine. He stopped talking for a minute, as did she, as he quietly contemplated her. Indeed, there was a frail edge that was about her--it was barely noticeable, but there. She had a ghostly-pale edge to her skin tone he did not think should be there. If that was the case, then Sharie was telling the truth abou that.  
  
Her personality did not seem bent or broken. Nor did her wrods sound coached. In fact, in many ways it seemed quite the opposite. There was something...well, solid about her. A security to her nature, a confidence he lacked. Of course, when had he ever been able to develop such confidence? He had been betrayed too often, floundered so much on deciding what his destiny ought to be, or even who he was. It was no wonder it had never developed.  
  
That was part of the explanation right there, he realized. Madhea must have known some security in her life I never experienced. It was pretty obvious that she had never left Sharie's side before.  
  
"How have you been treated, Madhea?" he asked. "Are you Sharie's pokemon?"  
  
"Sharie's not my master. She told me herself she is my equal. She's never given me cause to think I was below her in any way. She's trained me, but only because I asked her to. Not once has she ever engaged me in a pokemon battle. In fact, she goes out of her way to make sure that I can do nothing for her in return. She has never asked anything of me, in return for all she has done. I rather wish she would, at least once, so I could somehow do something for her in return--but she won't. I think she's afraid to ask anything of me, because she fears I might see it as her trying to take control of me."  
  
The rather forcible way she said the last few sentences surprised him. The look in her eyes, absolutely identical in color to his own, reflected all she had said. She wasn't lying. In fact, he got the inkling that the last few sentences were something she had never before even mentioned to Sharie, that it might be how she felt.  
  
"She has never asked *anything* of you?"  
  
"Not without my consent. The only experimenting she ever did on me was medications when I got sick. She uses her science knowledge in an offhand fashion--never once have I seen her scribbling notes on me or secretly programming her pokedex with information on Mewtwos."  
  
"I see," he said slowly. "Madhea--what is your destiny? Do you know?"  
  
"I want to make my own destiny. I have walked in the shadows those of us different seem to inhabit, but I see no reason to not walk elsewhere, as well. Our souls aren't different from non-cloned pokemon. Sharie's soul is not different just because she was born with powers that, as she puts it, no human should have. Life is life once it exists. It should not matter in the end whether it came into being because of science or the more natural way. I have eyes to see and a heart that knows better than that. It is only the standards set by others that forcibly set us apart."  
  
Mewtwo needed no further explanations. She understood the shadows of moonlight as much as he did--and yet, she had a more optimistic look at life and the world around her. No pokemon whose will was bent to another being's could say that with confidence. He would have known if she was coached into saying the words. Sincerity was in her eyes.  
  
*And....she is like me,* he realized again. *She is...truly like myself, even though she is a child. Maybe....maybe....I don't have to be alone anymore?*  
  
Something deep within him shifted. Slowly, he found himself extending his hand to Madhea--in a sense, offering himself in a way he had never thought he could do. He could not stop himself--the impluse, the desire, to not be alone was by now too strong to ignore any longer.  
  
She looked at his hand, then in his eyes--and smiled, deciding that, despite everything, she liked him. She reached up, meeting his tri-fingered hand with her own.  
  
For several moments they held, clarifying the thought in each other's minds--*this is real.*  
  
It was several seconds before he released her hand, deciding something.  
  
"Come," he said quietly, turning back in Sharie's direction. Madhea followed him.  
  
When he reached Sharie, he stood before her, looking down into her eyes again. In their depths was fear--she was afraid of him and what he might do.  
  
But mixed in their depths was love and determination, for Madhea. She had been willing to risk everything to see to the young pokemon's happiness. He did not like her or who she was, but for now he decided to give her the benefit of the doubt--if all went wrong, he could simply erase her memory and be done with it. In fact, he'd end up doing that anyways.  
  
"This may be the most foolish decision of my life," he announced quietly. "But you did save my life. The young one seems unbent to your will, and she has obviously grown up happy and secure. That must say something. I do not wish ill feeling on Madhea. After thinking about all of this, I have decided to escort you both to Mt. Quena."  
  
Sharie's muscles relaxed in relief. This alone was much more than she hoped for.  
  
"Thank you," she whispered. "It will mean so much to me to see Madhea as healthy as she can be. She deserves so much more than I can give her. Here....she can get that."  
  
Mewtwo did not directly answer her, but he did relax more around her. She was glad he no longer was judging her an outright threat.  
  
"Just do not make me regret my decision," he said at last. "I am not used to placing trust of any sort in humans. If you know as much as you claim then you understand that, and why."  
  
"I do, unfortunately," she answered somberly. "My father and uncle--how they handled treatment of you was wrong. They would never have acted as they did if they had not been so buried in grief already. Usually they are very gentle men. Especially my father has psychic ability of his own--he of all of them should have known better. It was only out of desperation and the promise of free help that led to their tainted alliance with Team Rocket."  
  
"Am I so tainted to you?" he asked, guardedly. That hurt. If that was her thinking, why had she brought Madhea to him, since she obviously cared about the girl so much?  
  
Sharie sighed. Her heart ached for him, but he was so doubting! How could she pound what she wanted him to know into his mind? Mewtwo's opinion of himself was as low as her own opinion of herself.  
  
"I said Team Rocket was tainted, not you. It was how they were treating life, as nothing more than machines or labratory specimines. They did not bother to ask the pokemon how they felt. Life is *life* once it exists, Mewtwo! No creature can live without a soul, and regarless of *how* all life is created, we all have one!" In this she unknowingly echoed Madhea's own words. "No judgement or discretion have I ever seen passed in that area. You might be copied, but your soul is your own. Your soul is no shadow of another's. And your heart lets you feel. Can a shadow feel? Does a shadow care what is done to it--does a shadow have a heart? If the sun or moon goes behind the clouds, does a shadow care if it vanishes?"  
  
Mewtwo had gone very silent. If that was her way of saying she did not think he was somehow tainted or unnatural--well, he did not know what to think.  
  
But deep down, her words had a merit on him he could not begin to describe.  
  
He looked at her again, and to his own surprise, felt a small smile curving his lips. Her words echoed in his mind--"Can a shadow feel? Does a shadow have a heart?"  
  
*This shadow does,* he thought to himself. *When a shadow is a living creature. Strange that a shadow could have more substance than most solid originals that I've met. I've always considered myself a shadow--is it possible to be anything more to the world than that? Could I be?*  
  
He doubted it, but he had no idea just then how deeply her words had affected him.  
  
"Let us go," he said quietly, gesturing towards Mt. Quena.  
  
Sharie smiled in relief. Mewtwo began to glow a deep blue color, and he lifted into the air.  
  
His intent had been on taking them with him in this fashion. But when he turned to look at both of them, his eyes widened in surprise.  
  
Not Madeha. She should have had the same ability by now. She was calmly floating in midair as if nothing was wrong.  
  
But Sharie's eyes glowed for a moment, and then the same glow surrounded her body. Slowly she rose into the air, where she took Madhea's hand securely in hers.  
  
"You can fly, too?" he asked, utterly dumbfounded.  
  
"I don't use it a lot, but I can. The most powerful of Psychic humans can levitate themselves, but it is still a rare ability and takes more energy and concentration for them than what I usually use. In fact, except when I taught Madhea how to do it, I've used it even less lately. But it sure beats climbing."  
  
To his own surprise, Mewtwo smiled at her. For some odd reason, she just did not seem as bad a person as she should have been, considering who she was. If she was anybody else he could probably even like her a lot.  
  
But the reminder of her blood ties was very painful. Maybe what her family had done was no fault of her own, and he really should not hold her responsible for their actions. But still, she was closely connected to those he hated, and that alone would always cause him to doubt her, deep down.  
  
He just could not risk getting so hurt again. Moonlight was his world and the only source of brightness he had. If it was extinguished, so would the last of his hope.  
  
Sharie followed Mewtwo though the air, towards the mountain in the distance. The flat peak rose high above the surrounding countryside.  
  
*It is broad daylight,* Sharie sent to Mewtwo. *I don't think you want Luna Carson or Cullen Calix to spot us, do you?*  
  
*No,* he sent back. Goodness, she even knew about that pair, he mused.  
  
His eyes glowed momentarily. *I garauntee they won't see us now,* he sent back.  
  
*What did you do?*  
  
*I made the water pipes turn on and off by themselves a few times and the heater in their house to start making funny noises. They'll be inside for awhile trying to investigate problems that don't exist. To busy to chance going outdoors and looking upwards.*  
  
Madhea, who had flown up beside him, suddenly giggled out loud. Mewtwo looked at her, startled. He had never laughed aloud before, and it was strange seeing Madhea do it.  
  
Madhea only looked at him impishly and smiled.  
  
*The smile of a happy soul,* Mewtwo realized with a pang.  
  
*Mewtwo?* It was Sharie again. *I admit I did not expect to find you around Mt. Quena again. The last time I blacked out, in the end I saw you leave the mountain along with that Ash kid and his friends, and that one Team Rocket pair you spared the memories of. I was not sure you would ever come back.*  
  
*We are there part of the month, the least busy time,* he answered. *When travelers start to come to catch the next bus across the valley, we leave for awhile, and indeed roam. I am taking no chances.*  
  
Sharie thought she saw his reasoning. *I can understand why.*  
  
She said nothing more, and they reached the mountain caves, where several large waterfalls splashed out and down from the hollow mountain interior.  
  
"We are here," said Mewtwo, slowing down. "The spring and Clarity Lake are in here, hidden inside Mt. Quena."  
  
****  
  
End chapter 4  
  
Like it? At least a little? I argued with myself for a long time, figuring out how Mewtwo would actually react--with the impulsive anger he was famous for in the first movie, or at least *trying* to give Sharie the benefit of the doubt, as he seems to have learned to do.  
  
Don't worry, folks, part 5 is on the way. Stay tuned. 


	5. Restoration

Disclaimers: Nintendo, Game Freak, and anime creators all own some piece of pokemon or other. I do not. My thanks go to all of you who are continually encouraging me with this story, especially to Mystic Mewtwo.  
  
Of Moonlight Shadows and Echoes Past, chapter 5  
By ZeoViolet  
  
****  
  
Mewtwo led Madhea and Sharie up the side of Mt. Quena towards one of the waterfall openings--one of the giant ones that spilled countless gallons of water out and down the side to Purity River below. The sound was thunderous, and a fine mist enshrouded the waterfall. The afternoon sun reflected off the mist, creating a beautiful, delicate rainbow of color that was easily noticed as Sharie and Madhea got really close.  
  
"It's beautiful, isn't it?" Sharie whispered to Madhea.  
  
"It's breathtaking. This whole area is." commented the little girl in return, holding Sharie's hand tightly.  
  
Mewtwo overheard this and smiled to himself. Wait until they saw the *inside*.....  
  
Within moments, they had reached the cave opening. The sunlight backlit them as they settled on the ground by the river, just inside the entryway.  
  
The instant Sharie's feet hit the ground, a weakness siezed her legs. She wavered, and her grip on Madhea's hands tightened for just a moment as she sank to her knees.  
  
Madhea noticed immediately. "Sharie! What's wrong?!" she cried softly in alarm.  
  
"I--I don't know." Sharie felt the dizziness that had siezed her begin to lift as suddenly as it hit, though her legs were still shaky. "Flying just took a lot out of me this time, I guess. I'm okay."  
  
Madhea frowned at her, but did not say anything more, at least out loud. *Yeah, right,* she thought to herself, so nobody else could hear. *It never bothered her until recently. I know what she is trying to hide from me.*  
  
Mewtwo noticed something of it, too--it had struck him earlier that Sharie, like Madhea, seemed unnaturally pale. For someone as powerful as she seemed to be, flying really should have been no problem.  
  
Madhea made up her mind to do something about it--when she got the chance. She had known very well for some time now what was wrong, though Sharie had told her nothing.  
  
Sharie braced one of her small hands on the cave wall and stood up, the weakness leaving her legs. All that remained was the vaguely tired feeling that had been plauging her recently.  
  
She even forgot about *that* when her amethyst eyes took in the vast beauty around her.  
  
Lakes and ponds seemed scattered around them, stretching off into the distance. The caverns rose high overhead, and scattered narrow holes at the top and sides let in light. But the lush greenery and the crystal clarity of the water around them was the true beauty. Vibrant flowers and trees heavy with fruit thrived, even in this inside environment.  
  
It was a virtual indoor utopia!  
  
Madhea had become as breathless as Sharie as her large eyes took in the vibrant life around her. "My goodness! It is a total paradise!"  
  
Sharie knew that in her heart, this was what she had been seeking for Madhea. Such lushness could not exist without the vibrant, crystal-clear waters surrounding them. Pollution and contamination were nonexistent here. This was raw, pure nature untouched by man's filthy, greedy little hands.  
  
And in the waters could hold the key to a safer future for Madhea, where she would not have to worry that a simple cold could kill her.  
  
Their arrival had not gone unnoticed.  
  
Pokemon resided in these caves as well, the cloned Pokemon that Mewtwo kept under his care.  
  
A very surprised Pikachu was the first to spot them. he started towards Mewtwo to greet him until he saw the strangers that the psychic pokemon had with him. "Pika!"  
  
The yellow electric pokemon stopped short. "Pika-pikachu-pikapi!"  
  
"You ask why did I bring strangers here?" Mewtwo felt an obligation to automatically translate the pokemon's words--Sharie, a human, would not possibly understand. "I have my reasons, Pikachu."  
  
Madhea stepped shyly from behind Sharie's back. It was a bit hard to believe--these were the very same pokemon that Sharie had told her about--clones, like herself.  
  
Like Mewtwo.  
  
"Pikachu!" exclaimed Pikachu. "Kapika? Pikauchpi...."  
  
"Yes, there is another like myself after all," Mewtwo translated again, not knowing Sharie understood every word. "She is a child. She has need of Clarity Lake's healing waters."  
  
A Meowth came up, eyeing Madhea with frank curiosity, then Sharie. "But Mewtwo--I thought you were dead set against any more humans poking around here."  
  
Sharie answered without waiting for Mewtwo to translate, not wanting to mislead him with any more secrecy. "It is for Madhea's benefit that I am here, Meowth. Madhea is her name." She indicated a slightly blushing young Mewtwo beside her.  
  
It took two seconds for them all to realize Mewtwo had not said a word this time.  
  
"Was it my imagination, or did you understand me?" asked the Meowth, blinking.  
  
"Mewtwo did not say a word," said the Pikachu from beside Sharie.  
  
Sharie smiled to herself. She knelt down until she was sitting, right at the Pikachu's level. "I guess there would be no point in keeping this secret. Yes, I understand you both. I can all pokemon, even those I haven't heard before. I can even talk back to them. I am talking in your way now, aren't I, Pikachu?"  
  
"Pika!" Indeed, the flow of Pikachu syllables from Sharie's mouth were exact, in pitch and reflection. There was no mistaking what she had said--but in a perfectly fluent rendition of the Pikachu sub-language!  
  
"How can you do that?" Mewtwo finally was able to use his psychic voice again--he had been too surprised to speak earlier.  
  
Sharie stood up. "I don't know. It was one of my earliest abilities--I was born with it. It was always so....natural for me. It even has very little to do with my psychic powers. All the rest of my powers just have developed over time. This, though--I've always been able to do it. I have no clue why."  
  
"Even pokemon you have never seen or heard before?" asked Mewtwo, doubtfully.  
  
"All pokemon can understand each other, even if they've never met before. I can too, I guess. Never been a pokemon I've met that I haven't understood. I can speak them all, too. You do not need to translate for me. I can understand them."  
  
Mewtwo shook his head. Evidently, it was true. The proof he had just seen for himself, after all. It would make understanding his fellow clones a lot easier.  
  
"Are they trustworthy?" asked Pikachu, looking quizzically at the pair. "I mean, the Mewtwo just follows her around as if the human was...."  
  
"My name is Madhea," the young Mewtwo broke in quickly. "You don't have to call me 'the mewtwo', okay?"  
  
Pikachu decided to keep his thoughts to himself. "Okay. Hi, Madhea."  
  
Mewtwo broke in. "They saved my life and Madhea needs the healing waters of Clarity Lake, that is why they are here."  
  
They could learn the rest shortly.  
  
Mewtwo turned back to both of them. "I have rarely ever trusted a human in my lifetime," he said seriously, and his amethyst eyes focused especially on Sharie. "You of all people I really *should* never be able to trust. I have, however, learned that life is precious, and things are not always as they appear. What one chooses to do with their life is ultimately more important than the circumstances of their creation. I ask that you tell no one else about this place, and not betray the trust I am extending you now."  
  
Sharie was grateful that he was showing any willingness towards her at all. Considering who her family was, did she really deserve it? She did not know.  
  
"For whatever my word is worth, I promise on the highest authority possible never to reveal this place to anyone else," she took the oath solemnly. "I know very well what would happen if the wrong humans discovered the secrets contained in this place. They'd destroy what they would be so desperately trying to obtain."  
  
*She'll have to prove to me that her word is worth anything,* Mewtwo kept the thought to himself. *I just cannot allow the ghosts from the past to rear their ugly heads again. Haven't we suffered enough already?*  
  
He frowned to himself. *I have so much to consider--what to do about the human? Erasing her memory is the safest way to go, but is it the best way? And Madhea? Should she stay? Just trying to find out what I am really meant to be has been hard enough....will it be easier with two of us? And one a child at that? And yet, her existence means I am not alone anymore...*  
  
He looked at the pair again. *And, despite what I may think, the two share a deep attachment. It is very obvious, even to me, much as I would want to deny it, because of who the human is....Sharie does seem to have raised Madhea with love. Do I have any right to destroy any memory of such a bond? After all I have learned about how rare and precious love and true friendship is--especially since we clones have lacked it all our lives? Despite who Sharie is, Madhea's been very lucky in that sense. Dare I destroy it? Is it even possible to do so? And....is it the right thing to do? Or.....will I be doing far more harm than good?*  
  
He now had a hell of a lot to think about and consider, for the safety of himself and his fellow pokemon clones. He did not want to take any chances....but he did not want to ruin anything that might be good, either.  
  
*For if I do, then I have actually learned nothing.*  
  
****  
  
Mewtwo led Sharie and Madhea to the shores of a nearby pond, one of many scatterd around the caverns. Nearby, other cloned pokemon watched, with much curiosity--and even more caution. They simply did not trust strangers. "Here. In these waters may be what Madhea needs to give her full health. She may...take as much as she needs."  
  
"Thank you," Sharie whispered, utterly grateful. "What I feel goes beyond words. Thank you--so much. Madhea has needed this."  
  
Sharie withdrew a scanner from her backpack, attaching little metal prongs to the end of it. As she dipped it into the water to test it, she mentally crossed her fingers.  
  
To her joy, the readings echoed what she had seen in her dreams.  
  
"It's as I saw in my visions," she said, feeling a bit lighter. She drew a vial from her pack and filled it with water.  
  
"Here, Madhea," she said quietly, pushing it into the young pokemon's hands. "This will hopefully restore you to full health, but we already discussed what else could happen, right?"  
  
Madhea nodded.  
  
"What? What else?" asked Mewtwo, puzzled.  
  
Sharie looked at him steadily. "Despite her frailty, Madhea does already have a great deal of power," she said quietly. "But even more power is being witheld from her because she is so delicate. If she drinks this, it will unleash all that hidden potential. Maybe not all at once, but Madhea could eventually have a power surge we both would have trouble dealing with. Unfortunately, she has the same problem controlling her power surges as I have. They come continually as she grows older. I still get them. I am always able to help her get it under control, and eventually she will learn to handle it herself, as I've had to. There is just the chance that with the health added would create a bigger surge than most, and I definetly want to be there with her when it happens. It may take a little extra time, but after it's under control she'll be fine."   
  
Mewtwo nodded, understanding. He remebered how painful his early surges were, until Giovanni taught him to control his powers. Because he had been physically mature, it had not taken as long as it would take Madhea, who was developing at a different rate than himself.  
  
Sharie looked relieved, then turned her eyes back to Madhea. "You willing to do this, kiddo?" she asked again. "I am not going to force it down your throat, you know."  
  
Madhea nodded. "I am ready. I remember how nasty it's been when I've been sick."  
  
"Then drink it. It'll bring out the best in you."  
  
"What--you haven't seen it yet?" asked Madhea, feigning innocence.  
  
"Imp." Sharie smiled. "Go on, now."  
  
Madhea obeyed, lifting the vial to her small mouth. The instant the clear liquid hit her tongue, something deep inside her awakened....a craving for it. She swallowed without stopping until the vial was empty. The liquid barely hit her stomach before a rushing, tingling sensation spread through her whole body.  
  
She dropped the vial, her body beginning to glow a purplish-blue shade.  
  
The change was astounding. A rush of color came to her face and warmed it, the vibrant hue spreading over her whole body. As the color rushed along her small form, the ghostly-white tinge to her body, a betrayal of her frailness, faded. Her eyes began to sparkle, and she closed them momentarily. When they opened again, Sharie was utterly amazed--Madhea's eyes had always been deep, and clear, but nothing compared to this! Her large amethyst eyes practically glowed, and fresh sparkles were in them, a delightful sign of her newfound health.  
  
Also with it did come a momentary power surge, with a force that almost knocked Sharie backwards. But Madhea showed not signs of suffering. Sharie had no idea if she would have a real power surge, later, when her mind realized that nothing more was holding her body back from using such power.  
  
Her body stopped glowing after several moments, but the effect was still surprising. The waxy tinge was now totally gone, and the rosier hues had replaced it. Madhea was now of a normal, healthy color, for her--she had become Mewtwo's exact shades. Her upper body was the slightly lighter purple, and her belly and tail were now the same rich, dark purple as Mewtwo's was. Before, it had been close, but not quite.  
  
It took several seconds for Madhea to be able to move again. Happiness filled her as much as the energy surge. She wanted to dance, but instead, turned to Sharie and rushed into her arms.  
  
"Thank you, Sharie, thank you so much for doing this for me!" she said softly. "I never dreamed I could feel this way." She pulled back and looked at Mewtwo. "And thank you, Mewtwo, for trusting Sharie enough to at least let her bring me up here. She's wanted so much for me, and at least now, she'll rest easy and not worry about me so much."  
  
"The effects speak for themselves," Mewtwo answered. Truthfully, he was startled at the difference. She no longer looked frail, and her eyes--it was rather amazing. Her eyes reflected the light around her in a dazzling way, he noticed, and against any light--especially moonlight--she would positively glow.   
  
With a start, he realized what her name meant.  
  
Madhea. In the pokemon general language, it meant Moonlight Beauty.  
  
He shook his head in wonder. How had Sharie known it? She must have, to have chosen a name that suited Madhea so well. Madhea was indeed a very pretty young pokemon.  
  
When she was grown, she probably would look exactly like he did.  
  
Sharie knew it, too. Most humans looking at Mewtwo would consider him, for a pokemon, to be physcially quite handsome. If Madhea grew up to look like him, she would be beautiful. There might be only *very* subtle hints to indicate she was female--mostly, she would be a bit more delicate in appearance and her feet a bit smaller, and she'd probably have a femenine grace while Mewtwo's would be masculine--but it would be enough for anyone to tell the difference between handsomeness and beauty.  
  
Sharie leaned back on her hands with a tired sigh, but her violet-purple eyes held an unusual shimmer of their own as she looked at Madhea. "It is such a weight off my mind," she whispered. "Thank you, Mewtwo, for all you have done for her."  
  
"I did what is right, nothing more," he said quietly.  
  
He noticed Madhea was frowning at Sharie again. Her eyes narrowed, then widened, as if deciding something.  
  
She came up to him.  
  
"Again, I thank you," she said softly. "You did not have to do this, I realize that. Sharie only has done this for my sake, and no other reason has occured to her. But," she took a deep breath. "Mewtwo, would you allow her to have some of Clarity Lake's waters, as well? There is a lot more about her health that she's been trying to hide from be, but I've known."  
  
"Madhea!" Sharie almost fell over backwards in surprise. "There is nothing wrong with me."  
  
"Yes, there is!" came the firm reply. "You won't tell me but I can see it. You've probably not done a lot of traveling on foot before you met me. Yet you did, you saved my life, and you've trained me while doing all this traveling you aren't used to. You've also had to put up with my power surges, and I have some idea of the enormous effort it's taken you to keep *me* from going too far out of control when it happens. You've been worrying about me so much, too. You're worn out, to the bone. You're pale--no, lately, you'r as white as I was. You've lost weight, also. Flying should never have been any trouble for you, but it was."  
  
Sharie opened her mouth again to object, but Madhea interrupted her.  
  
"Don't deny it any more, Sharie, please! I did not know what to say or do about it before. You never let me do anything for you after all you've done for me. The least I can do is ask Mewtwo to help you, as well."  
  
"I don't want you to feel as if I'm using you, or making you feel below me, Madhea," came Sharie's soft reply. "And truly, I never considered much how I might be at any moment. There's never been any point. I'll be fine. Considering who I am, he's done far more than he should have done already."  
  
Madhea turned pleading eyes to Mewtwo, who had been listening to the whole disagreement, his amethyst eyes unreadable. Slowly he nodded his head.  
  
"Consider it a return for saving me earlier," he said shortly.  
  
"You never owed me any obligation," said Sharie softly. "I can already tell that I've been pushing things to the limit already. I have no desire to overstep my bounds."  
  
"Do it for the sake of Madhea, or for whatever sake you see fit to view it as," he said quietly. "It is pretty clear to me that she won't leave you alone about it until you do."  
  
Sharie sensed he probably did not mean to have his tone take on a sharp edge. He was still warring with himself over her--impluse over who she was versus his sense of ethics, of right and wrong.  
  
She should probably not stay very long--he was right; as a human and a scientist, she'd just contaminate their lives if she was around too much.  
  
Madhea came over to her, the vial in her hands already full. "Please?" she asked. "Do it for me?"  
  
Sharie looked at her and, with a sigh, gave up. She nodded her head.  
  
Madhea smiled in relief. "Good. Down the hatch, then."  
  
Beside her, the Meowth and Pikachu both giggled.  
  
Sharie smiled and put her hand to her forehead tiredly. "That's Madhea's sense of humor for you...."  
  
Madhea smiled, but pushed the vial into her hands impatiently.  
  
*I am only doing this for your sake, Madhea,* she thought silently to the girl.  
  
*I know, but I love you, Sharie,* came the earnest, silent reply between them, so only they could hear. *I knew you needed this, too. Mewtwo isn't coldhearted, I can tell. I knew I could get him to allow this for you. My feelings if I were to lose you would not be any less than if you lost me.*  
  
Sharie's eyes shimmered momentarily, and she smiled, lifting the vial to her lips without another word of protest.  
  
Mewtwo had noticed that they were communicating silently, but he said nothing. The deep levels of communication and feeling between them were especially clear now, and it spoke volumes to him about who Sharie truly might be inside. Madhea was right. Common sense told him that Sharie was no threat. So did his heart, despite all the pain it carried. Only his mind, which rememberd all of his ugly past and carried a lot of pain of it's own, was disagreeing. Then and there he decided to stop listening to his mind so much. Sharie, so far, had done nothing wrong nor had she indicated she had ever done anything wrong by him. In fact, all her actions spoke quite the opposite. He decided that, despite his reservations, not to condemn any of her actions unless she gave him a clear reason for it. If Sharie actually *was* what his heart told him, and *not* what his brain--clouded by betrayal and prejudices of the past--told him, then she did deserve her chance, the same as any other living creature.  
  
Like Madhea, the instant the pure water hit her tongue, Sharie felt a deep craving hit the pit of her stomach. She suddenly felt as if she could not get enough of the water, and even before she was finished swallowing, she felt a rush of new energy flowing through her limbs.  
  
She, too, began to glow for several moments. The revitalizing energy rushed through every pore, taking away the tired feeling. A rosy flush colored her cheeks and spread rapidly though her whole body, restoring her to a normal, healthy color. She did not realize it, but the tired shadows faded from her amethyst eyes, to be replaced by a glowing, clear sparkle similar to Madhea's.  
  
She stood up slowly, feeling rather strange. Her mind seemed to realize what had happened, too, because moments later she was deluged by a power surge of her own. It was a bit different, though--along with it came the added ability to control it--an extension of her natural talents, which finally seemed to be paying off.  
  
She stopped glowing as she turned, smiling at Madhea, who laughed aloud and hugged her.  
  
"What a difference!" Madhea exclaimed. "Sharie, you haven't looked like this since I was *really* tiny!"  
  
Mewtwo was rather startled, also. The difference was considerable--and it suddenly told him, in a silent way, just how much effort Sharie had put into caring for Madhea, all these past months--just how old was Madhea, anyways? He had no way of telling....  
  
Sharie turned her amethyst eyes to his own. "Thank you," she said again. "I do feel much better."  
  
"You look much better," he agreed. His tone to her was different--softer than before. In fact, she noted, he was regarding her differently than before, as if he had made some decision about her or who she was. She did not know how the change had come about, but she was glad for it.  
  
Seeing it, she gathered her courage, wanting to ask something she had not dared ask before.  
  
"I know I'm pushing my luck," she said quietly. "But I'd make one more request, Mewtwo. I am a pokemon doctor, and the way I usually practice is through healing pokemon. I'd like to take a small bottle of this stuff along in my emergency pack. I don't have to explain where it came from, but the recuperative powers of the water here is amazing."  
  
Mewtwo was silent for several seconds, then to her utter surprise, nodded his head. "Just this once," he said. "Go ahead."  
  
She stared at him for several seconds, extremely surprised. "Thank you," she said quietly, before moving to fill a small container from her emergency kit. "This could save lives later."  
  
*It is strange,* Mewtwo mused. *My first thought was to at least question her more--but somehow, the look in her eyes stopped me short. I only knew she meant no harm. Why haven't I seen that in her eyes before? Maybe I just never tried to look.* He shook his head as if trying to clear it. *Why--*why* do I keep feeling like we have met before? Not just because of who her father is--the reason is totally different. Is it because she's been in the back of my mind all these years? Maybe....but it isn't just that....there is something more to this puzzle....something is missing. And I don't know what.*  
  
****  
  
The Meowth had been watching Sharie steadily for some time, as if considering asking her something. After awhile, when everyone else had fallen silent, he came up to her.  
  
"I know you're a stranger, and all of that," he said. "But you seem nice enough to me. All of us clones can see it--there's something different about you. Something we've never seen in a human before."  
  
Sharie sat down on the grass, her attention diverted to him. "Well--I can talk to pokemon," she agreed. "I can do other things others can't do, either. Is that it?"  
  
"Well, yeah, sorta," said Meowth. "But there's something else. I don't think you're that bad."  
  
Sharie smiled. "Thank you. I hope I am not bad, either. Is something on your mind?"  
  
Meowth looked down at his paws. "You said you are a pokemon scientist, right?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Well, normally we'd hate scientists, but if Mewtwo brought you here, even knowing how *he* feels about them, then you must be different somehow. You said you were a pokemon doctor?"  
  
"Mewtwo brought me here because Madhea was with me. But yes, I am a doctor."  
  
Meowth shuffled his paws. "Then maybe you can find out what is wrong with me," he said abruptly. "I don't feel so hot."  
  
Sharie looked at him quizzically. "You look healthy enough to me. The water here surely keeps you all in excellent health. What do you feel?"  
  
"I dunno. I just feel all funny inside, like something inside of me is forcing it's way out."  
  
Sharie reached out her hand. "Would you come closer, and allow me to touch you?"  
  
He nodded, walking closer on all fours. Gently Sharie picked him up, fully aware Mewtwo was watching her--not with disapproval, but with slight caution.  
  
It was then that Sharie noticed something. "You haven't been around other Meowth much, except the one you were cloned from, have you?" she asked.  
  
"I don't know how you know about that," came the reply. "But you are right."  
  
"I see. Then you would probably not know the signs for yourself." Sharie touched the golden coin on Meowth's forehead. "This is glowing ever so slightly, and I see something like a building storm in your eyes, trying to break free. I'd say, Meowth, that you are the verge of evolving into your next form."  
  
"What?!" exclaimed Meowth. "Me, evolve? Into a *Persain*?! No way! I have no desire to become a fat, lazy persian like the one that tails Giovanni! I'm happy just the way I am, thank you."  
  
"Calm down," Sharie urged him. She reached over into her pack and pulled out something. She held it up so he could see it. "Aha, here it is."  
  
What is it?" asked Meowth. "It looks like a rock."  
  
"Yes, but see the dark grey circle in the center? This is an everstone."  
  
'A what-stone?"  
  
"An everstone. It was recently discovered. Any pokemon exposed to it's energy field will not evolve. The energy bonds with their will. So even if they should evolve, they will not if they do not want to."  
  
"Cool!" exclaimed Meowth. "Can I use it?"  
  
"Well...." Sharie looked at Mewtwo, not wanting to do anything without his consent.  
  
"The choice to evolve or not is Meowth's," said Mewtwo. "He must live as he chooses. It is not my decision to make."  
  
Sharie nodded in understanding. "Then yes, Meowth, you may use it. Just hold it for awhile. And the most special thing about this stone is, in bonding to your will, it goes with your will. You will not evolve if you do not want to--but if you change your mind, the energy will know it. You can evolve whenever you like. And one more thing--the effects of the energy last a year in most pokemon, but to be safe, hold it again for a few minutes every six months. It can be iffy in some pokemon. The energy never fades, either, in the stone--so you can share it around, and it won't wear out from overuse. You really want this?"  
  
"Oh, yes, please!" exclaimed Meowth. "Thank you!"  
  
Sharie smiled and handed the stone to him. "Then keep it in the caverns. It now belongs to all of you--I have a couple of others, so I won't run out."  
  
Meowth looked *really* happy. "Gee, thanks--a whole lot! I appreciate this!" he turned and ran off, prize in hand.  
  
Sharie, for the first time that Mewtwo heard, laughed softly.   
  
"Yes, thank you," said Mewtwo. "That was kind of you."  
  
Sharie flushed and said nothing. But the other pokemon, having witnessed this, relaxed around her, no longer judging her a threat.  
  
Out of childish curiosity, a baby Nidoqueen came up to Sharie, nuzzling her arm and wanting attention. "Nido...Nido...."  
  
Sharie looked down, surprised, then smiled. "Hi. Aren't you a cutie." Out of the corner of her eye, she was well aware of the mother Nidoqueen and father Rhyhorn watching her warily.  
  
She scratched the little female right between the ears, where she knew members of the nidoran family liked to be scratched--if a trainer could avoid their poison-tipped horns.  
  
"Nido....nido..." purred the baby happily.  
  
"You *are* cute," Sharie smiled, picking up the baby. She paused, though, as something occured to her. "But....a baby Nidoqueen? How did you evolve so young, I wonder? You must be unusually poweful, and I don't see any Moon Stones around here..."  
  
The baby looked at her oddly. "Nido....nidonido...."  
  
"....You were....*born* this way?" Sharie echoed in surprise. She smiled again and gave the baby an affectionate hug. "Then that makes you a cute little miracle, aren't you? The ways of nature always surprise us!"  
  
The baby looked at her and squirmed happily. "Nido...nido..."  
  
Sharie sensed the parents relax. She must have said something to put them at ease, she figured, though she did not know exactly what. She had only been telling the truth, after all. Within seconds, the baby in her lap was purring in a deep sleep.  
  
"You must have a way with babies," observed Pikachu from nearby.  
  
Sharie shrugged. "I don't know," she admitted. "I have always been able to understand pokemon a lot better than people. I am a lot happier being with them and walking in their world than being around other humans."  
  
Another baby Nidoqueen and her brother Rhyhorn came up and nudged Madhea, curious about her--she was a Mewtwo, yet she was closer to their size, and, they sensed, their age. Actually, she was several months younger, but the nidoran family and the rhyhorn family did not mature as quickly as she had. So they were about the same stage physically.  
  
Madhea was delighted to find playmates close to her in size. She instantly made friends, and was soon romping around across the caverns with them, playing, the child side of her coming out.  
  
*She is fitting right in,* Sharie observed, a sad smile on her face. She had to speak to Mewtwo alone.  
  
She eased the baby in her lap to the grass, so as not to disturb her. She stood up and motioned Mewtwo aside, out of Madhea's earshot.  
  
"I've been meaning to speak to you," she said quietly. "I know you have yet to decide if Madhea can stay or not. I think she could be happy here, but she and I are also very attached in ways I cannot describe." Sharie drew in a deep breath. "I made Madhea a promise long ago, Mewtwo. That if you did decide to let her stay with your group, the choice would be hers on what to do, which path to take. This is the best place for Madhea; she can remain safe here and grow up happily, away from greedy humans. And yet she and I mean so much to each other. If, in the end, she wishes to remain with me, I will not stop her."  
  
Mewtwo looked surprised, then thoughtful.  
  
"I'd never drag Madhea back to a world of labratories if I could ever help it," Sharie continued. "Madhea knows this is not a simple decision she can base on impluse. Either way will have long-term consequences for everybody involved. If she comes with me I could inadvertenly expose the existence of the Mewtwo species to the whole world, when it is best kept secret. Many humans would try and get their greedy hands on her for her power, without regards as to how she might feel. Worse, Team Rocket could re-learn of her existence and thus yours. I'd do my best to protect her but the dangers are great. The safest place is here, with you."  
  
Sharie drew in a deep breath. "But I will not deny her the right to choose, either. Madhea is wise far beyond her age. She understands. We both know, I think, that I would be no better than Giovanni himself if I denied her the same rights as every other living being deserves--the right to choose their own destinies. Ever since I found her Madhea has been everything to me. If she stays my heart will be torn to shreds when I leave her, but I'll be happy knowing she is out of evil hands. The dangers are great if she follows me, and I cannot garauntee her safety. But in the end, it must be her own heart's deepest desires and what she knows is right that will make her speak her choice--and the choice must be hers alone. I can do no less for her, and also, I can do no more to help her choose."  
  
Mewtwo looked astounded, but he nodded. "You are proving your worth even more by your words," he said. "You are right, I would be going against my own words and morals if I were to say you were wrong. Madhea is too wise not to understand, that I have seen. If I decide it is best that she stays, then you are right--she must be allowed to choose, like any living creature. I no longer can deny how dedicated you are to her, and I know you would do anything to protect her and make her happy. The decision must not be rushed on her, because she has a lot to consider, but in the end, if I believe it is better for her to stay, the choice is hers alone. Give her a few days to decide for herself if she could be happy here, so she won't regret her decision later."  
  
"But would you permit me to stay with her that long?"  
  
"I trust you enough now. You have shown no reason for me to doubt you. My fellow clones have already seen more in you than I can obviously see, and that accounts for even more. I think a few days can do no harm. My brain says not to trust you but my heart says that you are not a threat, and I find I like you despite it all. Maybe eventually, not even my brain will doubt you anymore."  
  
Sharie smiled at him and walked quietly away. Mewtwo had no idea what his words meant to her, and she would cherish them forever.  
  
****  
  
Mewtwo now seriously doubted he would just erase Sharie's memory, or Madhea's. Their bonds went so deeply that he doubted not all memory *could* be lost. Their hearts he could not touch with his powers, and their hearts would surely remember.   
  
He had a lot of decisions of his own to make. No, indeed, he could not force Madhea to do anything against her will, and if he did decide to let her stay, it was indeed her choice in the end. He was fast seeing Sharie as someone far different than what she had first seemed. There would be no harm in her staying for a few days with Madhea. Madhea should not be made to feel that she had to let her young heart be ripped to pieces just because it was safer. Her feelings were just as important. If Madhea chose Sharie the dangers would be great, but Sharie would do her best by the girl, he knew that now. After all, Sharie could have taken the baby straight to her uncle instead of risking her life seeking him out--her belief in him, over other humans, was strong--and real. Already he cared for Madhea, and her happiness would mean as much in the end as her safety, so if she chose Sharie, he would be saddened if she left, but would quietly abide by it. It was the girl's decision alone.  
  
****  
  
End Chapter 5  
  
Well? A lot of people have a lot of choices they must make, don't they? In Chapter 6, Mewtwo gets a surprise visitor, and the mystery between him and Sharie becomes more evident. Madhea also has a lot of choices to make, and she must start considering them. In future chapters, the effects of Clarity Lake's healing waters have restored Madhea to health--but, as Sharie warned, come with a rather nasty snag. Look out for chapter 6! 


	6. Echoes Past

Disclaimers: Nintendo and Game Freak and everyone else involved--yes. Me--no. Reason: Ownership.  
  
Okay, I'm *sorry* I took so long on this chapter. This one was tough trying to make it sound at least *remotely* like the way I wanted it to. Sharie and Mewtwo have a lot of conflicting emotion and underlying turbulence between them, and yet I didn't want to point any fingers--neither are to blame for what they feel deep inside. But the later mental conflict would have wound up pointing fingers where I did not want them to if I had been in a hurry about this. Madhea has her own problems, and the visitor that shows up in this section is somehow going to get involved in this too--he was at one point, if you saw the first movie :D So I hope this sounds halfway decent.  
  
This is chapter 6 of "Of Moonlight Shadows and Echoes Past". Enjoy. Rating pg-13 as usual, though for what reason in this section I have no clue--except for maybe a section near the end reffering to rather drastic results of a mental probe. Oh, yeah, the scene right at the beginning where Sharie is contemplating the mystery of baby Nidoqeen born fully evolved (as seen in Mewtwo Returns) *should* have been in part 5, but most of what I write gets written very late at night (often past midnight) and I forgot to put it in....so I had to improvise. And There are parts in this chapter that refer to the uncut English version of Mewtwo's Origin. The one they slapped on the First Movie tapes and DVD's was cut, and we never saw Ai/Amber in that version. It was not until I got ahold of the Mewtwo Returns DVD that I saw the uncut version--dubbed in English, but still uncut. I finally got to see the mysterious backstory of Ai/Amber, and the awful tragedy of a little girl dying not once, but twice....Anyways, I refer to the English version of it here, albeit with the necessary fudging to make it fit "my" version of events in my timeline.  
  
Of Moonlight Shadows and Echoes Past, part 6  
By ZeoViolet  
  
****  
  
All was quite for about the next hour. The only thing that had happened was Sharie telling Mewtwo quietly that the pokemon deserved to know exactly who she was, and judge for themselves how to treat her. Mewtwo had agreed, and gossip generally had made it's rounds about why, exactly, Sharie had come with a young mewtwo in tow.  
  
However, Pokemon in general are good at seeing in people what others would not be able to see. They genuinely sensed Sharie was no threat; in fact, she was more like them than anything. She treated them all with respect and especially the babies loved toddling around after her. She had gained a loyal follower in Meowth, and even the stotic Pikachu was softening towards her.  
  
Sharie silently contemplated the mystery of the baby Nidoqueen that tagged after her. Born fully evolved? Pokemon were known to be born at the lowest evolutionary level of either parent they took after. This was the first time she had heard of pokemon being born fully evolved. The only reason she could think of was that when the Nidoqueen was cloned, the DNA for Nidoqueen alone was copied. The genetic information for bearing baby nidoran must have somehow been lost, or at least has become intermittent. It could happen again, or she might have baby nidoran in the future. Sharie was not sure and she did not ask.   
  
Madhea spent the time happily romping with the other baby Rhyhorn and Nidoqueens. She was glad she had found playmates closer to her in size and physical strength. Sharie was genuinely glad that she had been accepted by them so easily--it was beyond her wildest dreams. Surely Madhea could be happy here.  
  
At last Sharie got up and, babies tagging along behind her, went to the waterfall entrance she and Madhea had first arrived at. She sat down and stared outside at the vast sky and endless land around Mt. Quena, and could even see Purity River far below.  
  
It allowed Mewtwo to study her unobserved. Were humans so cruel, even to their own kind? Sharie looked perfectly normal on the outside. It was only on the inside she was different. How come some humans were so averse to change, and to being unique? No small wonder she had cast herself to walk in the shadows of moonlight like he did. It was the only place where she probably felt reflected what she was--only a shadow of what was considered the standard.  
  
He looked at her again. No reason why she should not have to go through life alone, though. Surely some humans were more accepting than others. He'd seen such people in Ash and his friends.  
  
She did not seem ugly, that could not be a reason. Any other place she'd probably attract at least a couple of boys or men, he figured--although his understanding of human concepts of beauty wasn't that great. Humans placed too much of a store on looks, without looking at the inside of a person's soul and judging them from there.  
  
He tried for a moment to recall what Giovanni found attractive in human females. This had to be one area where Sharie wasn't too far off, he figured. Her hair was twisted atop her head, but it was obvious it was extremely curly, and probably long. It was a platinum color that was nearly white. She was small for someone her age, with a petite frame. Small enough that she looked much younger than she had to be--whatever her age was. Only the fact that her figure was well developed and the wisdom in her eyes said she was older--she *had* to be older than thirteen or fourteen, if that was the case. She was long of leg and had a slender figure, small waist, and narrow hips. In fact, she could stand to put on some weight. Her features were delicate, and she had a small, delicately chisled nose and a full mouth. Her eyes--except for her father, she was the only human he had seen with eyes that matched his *exactly* in color, down to the depths that an amethyst color seemed to have. In fact, she looked a great deal like the Donningan Triesta he preferred not to remember.  
  
But still, from what he had overheard from Giovanni and other Team Rocket members, she looked along the lines of what they considered attractive.  
  
Or was her inner differences simply so obvious to others that she was doomed to be alone? He did not know.  
  
Again, he got that nagging thought--she looked like someone else, too. But who?   
  
*Life is wonderful.*  
  
He blinked, startled. What....  
  
Something from the ragged depths of his unconsciousness whispered again. *Life is wonderful.*  
  
Mewtwo shuddered. He thought he had buried that. It was something he had not thought of in a long time. But looking at Sharie suddenly triggered it, that very faint memory....  
  
It wasn't much. A child's voice saying, *Life is wonderful.* Just a faint mental image of...someone. But who? He did not know. He was not sure where it had come from....only that it had originated while he was still floating in a tank on New Island. It was likely it was one of his many dreams, but why did Sharie's face generate the thought in such a way, after he had forced himself to forget it?  
  
*Life is wonderful.*  
  
*But,* Mewtwo thought, *Why?*  
  
****  
  
"Mew!"  
  
Sharie looked up, startled. Nearby, Mewtwo looked up as well.  
  
Sharie knew full well that had not come from Madhea. Wrong direction.  
  
"Me-eeeew!" came the cry again.  
  
Sharie's ears registered it as a hailing cry. A *Mew's* cry.  
  
Mewtwo came up to stand beside her as she spied something moving in the distance, towards them. A glowing sparkle showed through the clouds, surrounding a small pink form.  
  
She froze in utter shock as recognition took hold. *It can't be!*  
  
Floating towards them, partially veiled by clouds, was Mew!  
  
Sharie did not have to look twice to know it was the ultra-rare Mew from her vision of New Island.  
  
For some reason, he had returned.  
  
Sharie ducked back into the shadows. She wondered how it would look for Mewtwo to suddenly be seen standing by a human after so vhemently declaring, once upon a time, that he would prefer it if humans stayed *far* away.  
  
"Mew!" came the hail a third time, and Mewtwo raised his hand in a silent greeting.  
  
"Mew," said Mew, arriving at the entrance. "Mewtwo, I am glad I found you, and that you are still in one piece."  
  
"Hello to you too," said Mewtwo, sounding faintly amused. "Yes, I am."  
  
"Rumor had it of a strange purple pokemon staying here with a lot of others," said Mew. "Are you all well?"  
  
"Yes. We stay here part of the month. I protect this place in return, and keep it safe from prying human eyes. Mt. Quena has it's own secrets."  
  
"Are you sure--all human eyes?" Mew had suddenly spotted a pair of amethyst eyes in the shadows nearby, and could make out the form of a human girl. "Then who is that?"  
  
Sharie obligingly stepped forward out of the shadows.  
  
"All right--almost all," conceded Mewtwo. "She is here because of a lot of circumstances at once that happened today. She did have a compelling reason for seeking me out. it's--a long story. But that is Sharie Triesta--believe it or don't, her father and uncle were the two scientists who created me."  
  
"She's the daughter of....*them*?" asked Mew, floating closer to Sharie. "If that is the case, knowing you, Mewtwo, what reason could *possibly* have been on her lips that compelled you to let her near you?"  
  
Sharie brushed aside the slight annoyance she felt. It was, after all, a serious and legitimate question--very serious, for this was not a carefree Mew's typical nature.  
  
"I had a very compelling reason to come here, Mew," she said quietly. "Although I do not blame you for voicing concerns."  
  
"Mew?" Mew looked startled. "Did you understand me?"  
  
"Oh, maybe you should know something," Mewtwo did sound amused now. "She can understand any and all pokemon languages. She's Psychic, too--a Psychic human."  
  
Mew's cheeks redded as he realized that anything he said had been, and could be, understood by the human girl.  
  
"Mew," he said, floating closer to examine her. He darted around her from every angle, in a typical mew fashion--upside down, sideways, you name it.  
  
"Mew-mew," he said, the words registering as, "you're young."   
  
"But--" said Mew, pausing really close in front of Sharie's face and looking into her eyes, to judge for himself what he saw there.  
  
"Mew," he stated. "You guard your inner soul, I can see that. There is a side of you nobody touches. But I do not get the feeling you are a bad person. In fact, there's *something*--" Mew paused and looked into her eyes again, searching. He shook his head. "I can't place my fingers on it. There is *something* in you that....defies....what it should be...."  
  
Mew stopped talking and held out a small hand. "I am sorry I acted suspicious. You don't seem that bad to me. Whatever reason you came, it must have been important. Sharie is your name?"  
  
Sharie reached up and touched her fingers to Mew's. "Yes. It is an honor to meet you, Mew, a great honor. I've seen you in my visions, but I never dreamed I'd meet you."  
  
"'Visions'?" Echoed Mew.  
  
"It's a long story," stated Mewtwo.  
  
It was then that Mew noticed the small shadow that had slipped up beside Sharie. Madhea had been attracted by the sound of someone else speaking her own spoken language, and she knew it was not Sharie who had made those sounds.  
  
Mew stopped and *stared*.  
  
So did Madhea.  
  
****  
  
"A Mew?" said a bewildered Madhea.  
  
"Another Mewtwo?" said Mew at the same moment.  
  
The slience lingered as they stared at each other, unable to believe their eyes.  
  
"Madhea's the reason I am here," Sharie said after several silent moments.  
  
"A real Mew--isn't it, Sharie?" Madhea asked, her body loosening from where she had been standing rigidly. She reached up and, on her toes, hooked two of her fingers into one of the belt loops in Sharie's jean shorts--a habit she had developed as soon as she had grown tall enough to reach Sharie's waistline. Sharie was small and Madhea was only the size of a small child yet, but she now could just barely reach. It had become easier to tag after Sharie this way than have Sharie carry her all the time.  
  
"Yes, Madhea. That is the Mew I saw in my visions," Sharie answered quietly.  
  
"The same one?" Madhea asked as Mew floated closer.  
  
"I believe so," Sharie answered.  
  
Mew was still very surprised. "I can't believe what I am seeing. I thought Mewtwo was the only one."  
  
To Mewtwo's surprise, and Mew's, Madhea opened her mouth and responded in the Mew language she had been born with. "Believe it or don't. Here I am. I can't believe I am actually *seeing* what kind of pokemon I was cloned from."  
  
Mew looked startled. She sounded much like he did, and the language was exact. "Funny, I never have heard Mewtwo speak like that. How can you?"  
  
"Because until I was a few weeks old this was the only way I *could* talk," Madhea responded, still speaking aloud. She did not flinch when Mew touched her forehead in typical Mew curiosity; in fact, she giggled.  
  
So did he.  
  
"That tickles," she quipped.  
  
"You're a young one," he observed, his eyes sparkling merrily. "You're like Mewtwo in most ways, aren't you? And yet....a couple of things about you differ as well. And not just your language."  
  
"When Madhea was removed from the tank she had been floating in, she had no psychic ability whatsoever," Sharie put in. "Team Rocket created her with the same alterations they did with Mewtwo, but her method of cloning was different. Her enhanced genetic material was placed in a pokemon ovum and grown in an artificial womb, like any pokemon baby. She was born at fetal maturity, not physical maturity as Mewtwo was. So she's still physically a child. Her powers came later, in surges. They are still coming. But her first language was yours, Mew. My father and uncle did not think to mess with your spoken language patterns. I did not expect her to simply start saying 'mewtwo,' since neither of you evolved that sub-language from Nature."  
  
Mewtwo put his hand to his throat. "I've never even tried to use any physical voice I might have," he admitted. "Are you saying that if I were to do so, I'd sound exactly like Mew?"  
  
"Well...yes. You think like a human, in human words. But little would come out of your mouth except mews unless you forced yourself to learn how a human speaks with their mouths."  
  
Mewtwo smiled to himself. "Ironic. I am much better off the way I am, thank you."  
  
"Where'd you find her?" asked Mew, indicating Madhea.  
  
Briefly Sharie told him.   
  
"She's only three months old?" asked both Mew and Mewtwo at once.   
  
"Sure. My guess is she'll be a year old before she's fully grown--am I right, Mew?"  
  
Mew blinked, surprised. "Well, yeah," he admitted. "It does take a typical Mew a year to go from birth to fully adult. We grow faster than most other pokemon."  
  
"That is pretty fast," Sharie commented. Two baby Nidoqueen and their brother Rhyhorn came ambling up just then, nudging Madhea to come play with them. The little girl looked at Mew and grinned.   
  
"Nice to meet you, Mew," she said. "I am glad to see what my sister, the one I was cloned from, looked like. We really aren't that different, you know? See you later!" The Nidoqueen and Rhyhorn had been tugging her away from the group even as she spoke. They liked their new friend and had boundless energy. She was only too happy to oblige.  
  
Mew smiled to himself. "She's got a child's energy and a happy soul in gneral," he commented. "But her eyes speak of a soul much older and much more intelligent. She's got a stability and security to her that, I'm sorry to admit, Mewtwo, you don't have. It only comes with being raised with much love and forming tight bonds with those who raise her." Mew looked at Sharie again.  
  
Sharie flushed.  
  
"I've done my best by Madhea," she whispered. "Until I met her I never had a purpose of my own. I knew that, however temporary, my purpose for Madhea would be to see to her safety, and ultimately, her happiness. Whatever happens to me after that....is beside the point. This is the best place Madhea could possibly be. She could be happy here, away from greedy, evil humans."  
  
"Are you just going to leave her here?" asked Mew.  
  
*That* stabbed Sharie right in the heart. "Oh, no!" she gasped. "Not without her choosing of her own will to stay! I'd never do that to her! Madhea is my equal and my sole purpose in this world right now!"  
  
The fiery intensity of her eyes seared Mew's gaze. Mew looked at Mewtwo.  
  
"And yet, you doubt her," said Mew quietly. "Are you holding who she is against her, Mewtwo?"  
  
"I'm trying not to," Mewtwo gritted his teeth, annoyed. He really *was* trying, after all. Hadn't he made up his mind on this already?  
  
"I do not blame him," Sharie wispered. "After all I've seen him suffer in my visions....at times, Mewtwo, my response echoed yours so closely I could no longer tell our emotions apart. Humans have only hurt you and made you suffer. My father and uncle are very gentle men, and if they had not been so ravaged with grief at the time the mess they got themselves into with you might never have happened. I am a scientist by training, Mewtwo, *and* practice. The fact that you did not destroy me or otherwise attempt to do something drastic has surprised me greatly, even as peaceful as you've become. I know what kind of rage you hide; I've seen it. If you feel you must do something....then do it. I'll step in and accept the punishment you feel is due to my family for how you've been betrayed. I've been linked to you a long time, I've seen and suffered what you've suffered, and I cannot fault you. If I am their family then I am of the same contaminated blood you hate so much. Do it."  
  
He was stunned. Was she playing with him--toying with his feelings, or throwing his past in his face? Her eyes said this was not the case, but his brain remembered every painful injury. And yet her eyes were blazing, and she clearly expected him to react, to do *something*. He did not know *what* to do at the moment.  
  
"I am a human," Sharie whispered. "You've never trusted humans. *I* have never trusted other humans outside of my own family. I've done my share of research, like any other scientist, even if the lab pokemon trust me, and I've tried not to directly experiment on them myself. They trust my father and uncle, and are loyal to them. Yet it does not change the fact of who I am, does it? It is a beautiful world out there, Mewtwo, but also it can be very cruel. I've tried hard not to be like I've seen others to be....but I'm so different from others I could be evil and not even realize it."  
  
Her eyes rose to meet Mewtwo's again, resolute.  
  
Mewtwo could not say anything, he was so shocked. Yes, many humans were as she described. But was she? He had no way of telling, even if she had offered to step into her father's place.  
  
"You know well of how I feel about your family," he answered stiffly. "You're too closely guarded, Sharie, I can't see into your inner soul--except when you look at Madhea. But one of the hardest lessons I've learned in my life is to not judge based upon appearances or circumstances alone. Even though I cannot see what you are like inside, and my brain tells me not to trust you because you are surely like all others who've betrayed myself and my fellow clones," at this, her eyes widened, and he understood she knew how much he was warring with himself.  
  
"My heart was awakened by a boy named Ash, and how he viewed the world and the life it contained. It was a difficult lesson to learn....and even harder to keep in practice, despite all the evil in the world. But it is one of life's greatest lessons, and I've always held it close against all odds. That is why I am trying to give you the benefit of the doubt--you just might be the person you claim to be. My heart and common sense tell me this, even if my brain says otherwise. Without trust the world can't go on.....so I am trying to trust. You've shown no reason why you aren't who you say you are, and in fact, I could even like you. I don't act on revenge without just cause, even if I can't see you deeper inside than what you show. I am going with what my heart tells me, and it says to trust you."  
  
"Even I don't know what's inside the deeper recesses of my heart and soul," Sharie admitted softly. "I've guarded myself for too long. If my heart was so dark I would not know it."  
  
Mew had been listening to all of this, stunned. He had not realized how much conflicting emotion was going on here. He had been horrified at Sharie's suggestion for Mewtwo to "do something", and was glad Mewtwo was no longer the kind of person to react like that. He had been at one point in his life....but he no longer was. Was Sharie evil? He doubted it highly. Not if....what unusual things he was picking up from her told him. Most other pokemon probably would see it, too, if she gave them the chance. But even he could not tell if she was hiding a darker nature, and was only putting on an act--letting Team Rocket jump on them at any given moment.  
  
He could only think of one thing to settle the question--if it were possible.  
  
"I can look into your spirit," he offered, breaking the slience. "Sharie, how would you feel if I offered to go deep into your heart and see what kind of a person you really are? I would not touch your intimate thoughts or feelings, just the essences of your being. It would answer the question of whether you are being decietful to Mewtwo or not."  
  
Sharie looked surprised. She put a hand to her forehead.  
  
"Invade my mind?" she whispered.  
  
"Just judge your soul. I don't think you are bad, but considering who you are, it is a good way to eliminate the risk, don't you think?"  
  
Sharie nodded. Even a carefree pokemon like Mew had to have *some* sense of caution. "My being here is suspicious in it's own right," she admitted. "I've known that ever since I first encountered Madhea. She is not just some excuse I had to hunt out Mewtwo again, I've already said this. If you were to try this, I don't know how far you would get in. My defenses are so high no Psychic pokemon has gotten far. Even my father's favorite Alakazam, an unusually powerful one, tried once. I about blasted him out of the lab--I had no control over it. It was unconscious, but my mind and heart were trying to protect themselves. When somebody tries I just panic, because I feel violated."  
  
"I'll try not to panic your senses," assured Mew. "Do you accept?"  
  
"If you can get in anywhere. I'll try to stay as calm as possible. It's more or less like a polygraph. You are a lot more powerful, you might get somewhere. I really do want to prove I am honest in my intents."  
  
Mew nodded. "All right, then, ready?"  
  
"Ready."  
  
****  
  
Mew's eyes began to glow, and Sharie's eyes closed in response. Mewtwo, having been startled by Sharie's acceptance of such an invasion of her very *soul*, stood by quietly.  
  
Mew tried to be gentle. Sharie was really well-guarded, but he sensed she was forcibly lowering her defenses to allow him access to her mind and heart. He could feel her struggle; she wasn't used to being so vulnerable. But she tolerated him as best she could.  
  
The first few layers she managed to stay calm. His presence seemed no more than a whisper on her consciousness as he slid past her mind barriers, feeling the powerful surges of Psychic energy she had to work to keep under control--funny it felt more like pokemon energy than human energy.  
  
However, as he probed more deeply, he sensed her heart pick up pace. Her barriers were stronger here and he had to put more of his presence in her mind to get past them, even though she had to struggle with herself to let him in. It was slow going.  
  
She tried to force calm, and he wondered if he should turn back--but continued on. It seemed the only way to settle this. It was also hard getting around all the pain the girl carried in her heart--an awful amount for one so young. Many others would have been driven to suicide. But at least her spirit was strong and unbroken, like Mewtwo's. Whatever the cause, she had been as badly hurt in her life as he suspected Mewtwo had been. He stayed away from her thoughts and more intimate feelings, although he did sense the only easy way into her heart, a path he would not touch, was the bonds he sensed between her and Madeha.  
  
He went deeper, picking up some things that, later, he would find truly astonishing.  
  
Sharie could no longer contain her panic. She was overwhelmed with a powerful sense of violation stronger than she had ever felt before. She was being raped--mind-raped! All at once, she lost all coherent thought; all she knew was that she wanted--whomever it was--to leave her mind, stop torturing her,and *not do this to her again!*  
  
Mewtwo had noticed her increased agitation, but he and Mew were both unprepared for the sudden explosion of power.  
  
"STOP! Oh, get OUT! Please!" she shrieked both mentally and loudly. With a violent psychic push, she ripped Mew from her mind as if he was nothing, and the resulting Psychic surge sent Mew flying straight towards a rock wall.   
  
Only Mewtwo's quick countersurge saved Mew from being badly hurt.  
  
Sharie had sank to the grass, pulling her knees to her chest and wrapping their arms around them in a clearly defensive gesture. She sat there, huddled on the ground, shaking and overwhelemed with the sense of violation, even though she knew Mew had done nothing of the sort.  
  
Mew shook his head dizzily.  
  
"I'm sorry," Sharie whispered. "I tried, I really did. I just.....I felt like I was being raped. I even forgot it was you....I only knew I wanted.....I wanted....*it* gone..."  
  
"It's all right," Mew assured her, clearing the last of the fuzziness from his mind. "You had no control over that. You've got the most powerful, and subliminal, mental defense system I've ever felt. You guard yourself so tightly it's all become instinct to protect what you hold in your deepest mind and heart. In fact, the instinct really got strong a couple of years ago, from what I can tell."  
  
Sharie lifted her head, eyeing him questioningly. Mew did not quite know what to say for a moment. He dared not approach her or touch her--she might have screamed again. After someting like this it was best to give her space. He simply looked at Mewtwo, then at Sharie, then at Mewtwo again. He was not sure how to voice exactly what he *had* managed to sense. But it was very surprising....and important.  
  
He sighed. "I can tell you a few things. I did not get that deeply into your psyche, but as far down as I got I encountered no evil in you. Just an awful lot of hurt and pain, like Mewtwo has."  
  
Mewtwo's eyes widened.  
  
"I can tell you, Mewtwo, that if it has ever crossed your mind to simply erase Sharie's memory and send her on her merry way, you would never be able to do it. I don't know about her psychic power level itself but her special defense guarding her is off the scale. I've never seen anything like it. It all developed unconsciously. And I think I know the reason for a lot of it."  
  
Sharie eyed him. "What?"  
  
"In your mind, Sharie, I sensed a memory block."  
  
"What?" Sharie was not sure she had heard right.  
  
"A memory block. Not from a psychic pokemon messing with your memory, because I could not even probe it. It is one of those blocks that even psychic pokemon are unable to penetrate by themselves--this one is artificial in origin."  
  
"What are you saying?" Sharie asked, narrowing her eyes.  
  
"Meaning, my dear, that someone used some artificial means to bury part of your memory. It is the same type I've sensed in Mewtwo before. I never told you, Mewtwo, I never had the chance."  
  
Mewtwo looked startled. "I know of nothing like this in *my* head."  
  
"Yours is from quite some time ago. Sharie's was, I think, created at about the same time."  
  
"How long ago?" Sharie whispered.  
  
"Between two and three years ago. Did anything....unsual....happen then?"  
  
Sharie frowned and searched her memory. "Not really. I....was in an accident, and I was unconscious for weeks, so my Da says.....and that is when....*she* died, as well. While I was unconscious....my cousin Amber died...*really* died."  
  
****  
  
Mewtwo looked shocked. "Say that name again?"  
  
"Amber. She was my cousin. She was the driving force behind your cloning, Mewtwo." Sharie swallowed. "She had died once. My uncle....he reawakened her consciousness in a glass chamber. He could not stand her being gone. I loved her like my sister, and I missed her so much. I did not know what they were doing until I started having blackouts, Mewtwo. But my Uncle, back then, wanted to clone her body again so her consciousness could return and stay. You were not the only clone....There was a Charmander, Bulbasaur, and Squirtle. I....remember waking up one day, and being told I had been in an accident and unconscious for weeks." Sharie drew a shaky breath, seeking to control her feelings. "Amber's lifeforce had faded a second time. So had the other pokemon clones--only you survived."  
  
Her eyes rose to meet his for a searing second before she lowered them again. "I did not even know about you then, or the other pokemon clones, until much, much later. I knew Da wasn't telling me the full story....but his face and Uncle Daryn's were so ravaged with grief I did not press. They had lost her....and had almost lost me, that is all I know."  
  
"Mewtwo's memory block is just as long, and of the same type and time frame as your own," put in Mew quietly. "It is as if someone used drugs to suppress your memories."  
  
"Oh, I don't *know*!" Sharie cried, the pain from Amber's death having been reawakened. "I'm sometimes haunted by this dream. Amber is fading away into nothingness, and all I hear are the words 'life is wonderful', but I've never known why."  
  
Mewtwo's heart fell to his feet. "That is my memory!" he gasped, turning pale. "I've been hounded by that memory for as long as I can remember--a girl's voice saying those exact words! Looking at you earlier brought it back!"  
  
Sharie's heart stopped in her chest. "Do you have the feeling that we've met--long ago, before today?" she dared to ask. "How could we have the same memory?"  
  
"Sharie?" Mew put in. "You have often....seen Mewtwo, in your visions, like you said? Important points in his life?"  
  
"Yes, especially when his emotions got into sway. I'd black out, and suddenly I was standing beside him seeing everything that was going on, though he could not see me. I have always remembered them."  
  
"Such a psychic connection is rare, if it is the type I'm thinking about," said Mew. "It usually only forms after two individuals have known each other, and one makes a deep psychic impression on the other. And yet you two claim you had never physically seen each other until today?"  
  
Sharie and Mewtwo both nodded their heads.  
  
"And yet you both have this memory block. It is possible something happened during that time you both have no memory of. All I sensed about it was that something traumatic happened."  
  
"Da would never tell me the full story," Sharie breathed. "I hated to press him--it hurt him and Uncle Daryn so much to talk about it. They had lost Amber and almost lost me, so they say. I myself could hardly bear to think of it--I had lost Amber, my only real friend, twice. Just before I left to go find Madhea, I did ask Da once more--but he still could not talk about it. He did say, however, that if I felt it was necessary, he hid important records on New Island that I should read. Some diary of sorts, I don't know. He hid them from you, Mewtwo, as you were destroying the lab. It was, I think now, his way of saying much more happened than....what they told me."  
  
"How old was....Amber?" asked Mewtwo. For some reason, the name brought a lump to his throat--and he had no notion why.  
  
"Ten when she died. I was about five years older than her at the time. I turned seventeen just days before Giovanni reappeard here at Mt. Quena. She was one of the few who accepted me for who I was....and often my only friend. When she died, about two years ago...." Sharie trailed off, feeling a burning pain in her throat. She forced it back--why bother?  
  
Suddenly, a thought came to her--one so chilling she shivered and froze. "Oh, Gods," she whispered. "What if--"  
  
"What if....what?" asked Mewtwo, never taking his eyes from her. He wanted answeres to this mystery of his past.  
  
"What if....the reason why our memories were erased....was if we saw....her consciousness fading away.....as she died?"  
  
****  
  
Mewtwo's breath caught in his throat. His eyes and Sharie's locked, and they simply stared at each other.  
  
He still had no memory. But her words brought back such a powerful sense of deja vu that he felt sick to his stomach.  
  
Had he known this Amber....had he seen her die?  
  
And how did Sharie fit into this? Was it possible she had somehow seen the same?  
  
He had no idea. There was no proof. Except for their identical visions, this all could be wild coincidence.  
  
But he doubted it.  
  
Slowly, Sharie reached for the locket at her throat. She unclasped it and removed it from the chain. She opened it up to a picture and handed it to Mewtwo.  
  
"Is this the girl you see in your dreams, Mewtwo?"  
  
Mewtwo took the locket from Sharie's fingers, squinting at the picture on the right--a picture of Sharie and a younger girl.  
  
With aqua hair--and the same amethyst eyes. She and Sharie had very similar faces--but it was the eyes that speared him and reawakened a whisper of memory. Just briefly, from a time he had no idea had occured to him, it surged before his eyes and heart--but only for a moment.  
  
"....You should be happy. You're alive--and life is wonderful...."  
  
As quickly as it had surged, the memory disappeared back into the depths of the blackness which it had struggled out of, fading from his conscious mind almost altogether--as if the reality of it was so horrible his mind would not *let* him remember.  
  
But Mewtwo remembered enough to sincerely recognize the picture of the little girl in Sharie's locket.  
  
Amber had been her name.  
  
At one tme, somehow, somewhere, they had known each other.  
  
Mewtwo did not know whether to smile or cry.  
  
He did neither. He was too numb to react. Only an echo of a pain he had been forced to forget twinged in his soul, and he felt hollow, empty.  
  
"That is.....that is her," was all he said.  
  
****  
  
Sharie sank back to the grass. "What happened then?" she wispered aloud. "If something this drastic happened....why can it not be recalled?"  
  
Her eyes galzed over. "Amber had some Psychic abilities of her own," she whispered. "Not unusual, considering my family's long histories of it. Nothing like mine, but if she was in the lab, with you--" she swallowed hard. "It is not inconcievable that she might have tried to contact you, maybe even the other clones. I have no idea, and how *I* fit into this picture....it does not seem real."  
  
"No," said Mewtwo woodenly. "It does not."  
  
The silence lingered around them, for both were unable to say anything more. Mew just floated by them, quietly contemplating something that *he* sensed was far bigger than what it appeared to be.  
  
****  
  
End chapter 6  
  
Ooh--so the mystery deepens, hm? Look out for part 7. Part 7 is going to be one of those connecting chapters with some odds and ends in it, and part 8--well, Madhea is going to find herself in a very dangerous situation. That is, if I plan this right. I can only fit 13 or 14 pages of dialogue in each chapter, thanks to this stupid Desktop Publisher, and I must make myself space it out so I don't run out of memory space in the middle of a sentence or a criticle scene. It makes writing this all the harder. Oh, well, it also means the story will go on for awhile longer, since this is far longer than the earlier version I had of this storyline! (Too crunched and too boring to publish!) I'm in no hurry to finish the story, and in truth I have not quite solidified the ending I want to use....or this story might be like others I've written: a continuing series of adventures, with no real ending in sight. I'm not sure yet. Oh, well, ciao! 


	7. Unfair Decisions

Disclaimer: Don't own pokemon.  
  
I was recently pointed to a translated version of a radio drama about Mewtwo's early life. It was in Japanese, but Mystic Mewtwo kindly provided me with a website that featured a translated script. In this script, I got the first hint of the name of the pokemon scientist who was behind Mewtwo's creation, and Ai/Amber's father--his name was Dr. Fuji. I have no way of determining if this was considered "Canon" and therefore his "legitimate" name. However, I am unwilling to change the name I gave the scientist in my story--to a point. Just to keep things on the right track, his name is Daryn Fuji Triesta. Sounds stupid, but I like to go with the flow.  
  
This is chapter 7, and for once I will actually need this PG-13 rating for a little girl's inquisitive questions about....uh....intimacy. Don't worry, I won't go into great detail or use unsound language. I almost did not even keep the scene at all (it was in an earlier unpublished version) but I decided an edited version would keep this story sounding a bit more realistic. Madhea is, after all, a little girl curious about life. We all have or will have to face such a discussion eventually, either to our kids or as kids. You've been forwarned, oversensetive parents.  
  
One more thing--if you have trouble visualizing what Sharie's charm changes into, it looks sort of like the musical instrument Melody played in Pokemon The Movie 2000, with a few differences. However, it's origin and purpose are a bit different (although why exactly remains to be seen.)  
  
Of Moonlight Shadows and Echoes Past, Chapter 7  
By ZeoViolet  
  
****  
  
The slience lingered on for several minutes, stretching into the infinity of the past--a past that had snapped forward an echo of it to the present. It was a damning echo that left no real answers.  
  
Sharie at last touched her forehead. "Mew?" she whispered. "If this is an artificial block--those can't be reversed psychically, can they?"  
  
"No. That block was created by artificial means, not as if Mewtwo or myself simply erased part of your memory. It would take unique or extrenuating circumstances to force those shadows from your minds, so you could remember."  
  
Mew looked at her thoughtfully. "But that is why I think your defensive powers are so strong now. I sensed an overwhelming horror in you at being invaded, something from your mind being forcibly quelled. You had just endured one trauma and another, the mind block, was being thrust upon you. It terrorized you deeply, and was certainly against your will. Unconsciously, you've been developing your own powers since then. So much that not even Mewtwo himself could get in far, much less erase your memory."  
  
Sharie's eyebrows furrowed momentarily. "It did cross my mind that he would consider it," she looked at Mewtwo pointedly. "But, even if I do not know of the extent of the rest of your powers, I was pretty certain my defenses would never allow you to breach my mind to erase my memory of you or Madhea. It was the one area I've been certain I could rival you."  
  
"After seeing what you did to Mew, I have no doubt about that," Mewtwo returned quietly. "But the question is--what to make of what we've learned? Is it real--or just coincidence?"  
  
"I don't know," Sharie whispered painfully. "There's no proof. Someday I'm going to have to confront them but I don't want to hurt them. Amber was my Uncle Daryn's daughter and his whole life. Back then science took second place, until she died. His obsession with reviving her made my Aunt Alyssa leave him. The only reason why she's still my aunt is she was my Momma's sister." Sharie's forehead touched her knees. "Uncle Daryn put everything into the cloning project, all for the sake of Amber. Both he and my father knew my feelings about testing pokemon like that so I was never told of you. I had no idea you existed until the day you awoke and destroyed the lab. I heard your thoughts, I even heard Uncle Daryn speaking in the background--"We dreamed of creating the world's most powerful pokemon--and we succeeded." It was the first time I ever laid eyes on you."  
  
"And the rest is history?" put in Mew.  
  
Sharie nodded silently. "It was how I recognized you, Mew. I saw that mess on New Island. I saw that kid--Ash--get killed by a double Psychic blast and the miracle of the pokemon's tears that brought him back."  
  
Mew nodded. "I do not doubt you now. Even if Mewtwo wrestles with himself over how he feels I do not think I have any cause to doubt you any more. I only sense a good soul in you, and unless you prove otherwise, I think you deserve to be treated like that."  
  
Sharie blushed, remaining silent.  
  
What was she to do now? Her heart was burning with a pain she had buried ages ago, after Amber died--the pain had been ripped right back open when Mew discovered this block in her memory. It stood out now like a hole in her mind, now that she was re-aware of it. It had been so long since she had pondered it, and now it hurt all over again. But she was glad, too--for now she wanted answers, and if she ever went home again, she was determined to get them. Maybe then it would set her memories of Amber at peace.  
  
And it would give Mewtwo a measurement of peace as well to know more about himself.  
  
****  
  
Sharie heard a faint mental *gasp* echo in her mind. She blinked in surprise, for she recognized it as coming from Madhea.  
  
She stood up quickly. "Something is not right," she said urgently. "Madhea--"  
  
A few moments later, Madhea came looking for Sharie. Her face had flushed a bright scarlet and she was breathing hard, peering over her shoulder unconsciously.  
  
She was alone.  
  
"Madhea--what is it?"  
  
Madhea ran for the safety of her arms--something that startled Sharie. Something bad *must* have happened if Madhea was suddenly so clingy.  
  
Sharie was suddenly kneeling, her arms around Madhea as the girl panted for breath, as if she'd recieved quite a shock. "Madhea? What is it?"  
  
"I....uh...." Madhea stammered mentally, totally at a loss to focus her thoughts. "I...."  
  
Sharie looked Madhea in the eyes. "What, Madhea?" she asked patiently.  
  
"I....um....I saw...." Madhea suddenly blurted out, "I had no idea certain areas of the caverns were more off-limits than others!"  
  
Sharie was startled. "What do you mean?"  
  
"I went exploring with one of the Nidoqueen. Eventually we split up and I was alone....and I came on....a...." Madhea stumbled again, her face flaming even more. "I saw..."  
  
Sharie only looked at her patiently.  
  
"The *parent* Rhyhorn and Nidoqueen....they were starting to....uh...."  
  
It suddenly dawned on Sharie what Madhea was trying to say. "Oh, dear," she whispered, sinking down until she was fully sitting on the grass. "You walked in on them while they--"  
  
Madhea shook her head, totally mortified. "I....they did not see me. They were just starting, just nuzzling each other....but I knew somehow....I just hightailed it out of there!"  
  
Sharie shook her head, and suddenly, amusement flashed across her features--she could not help it. She grinned. Madhea was astonished.  
  
"This is *funny* to you?"  
  
Sharie shook her head no. "Of course not. Madhea, my dear, you are certainly *not* the first one to walk in on such a scene. When I was very little before my Momma died, I admit I transgressed on their private time once or twice. Too bad I remember it."  
  
"Well, why do they even feel the need to do that?" Madhea groused. "They already have a bunch of kids. I read in your encyclopedia why it is done--to procreate. I even know how babies are born. Do they want more kids so badly?"  
  
Now Sharie did flush red herself. Mewtwo and Mew were both easily within hearing distance of Madhea's mental voice. Mewtwo's face showed no emotion, but Mew was trying to stifle giggles.  
  
"Look, Madhea," she began, "It is not because they want more kids. That isn't the only reason why it's done....it feels good to them, that's all. Okay?"  
  
Madhea looked surprised. "Such....it is done not just for babies? People actually enjoy doing.....*that?*"  
  
Sharie swallowed. "In an ideal world."  
  
"Does it feel good to *you*?"  
  
"Madhea!" *Sharie* was now the one mortified. She put her head on her knees, but her red ears could clearly be seen. Madhea must really be stressed or she would know better than to ask such intimate questions around others. Usually she did so only when she and Sharie were alone.  
  
"Madhea...." she stammered, "I am *not* the one to ask that. I have practically no experience there. Just take my word for it--it feels good to most people, and by the way, it is *strictly* an adult activity."  
  
"You've never--" Madhea suddenly looked at Mewtwo and fell dead silent. She had indeed forgotten he was there--she had been too upset by what she had seen to think anybody else was nearby.  
  
"Come on, kiddo." Sharie stood up and took Madhea by the hand. "I think it is time you and I have a little discussion on the facts of life, the stuff no encyclopedia is going to teach you. I did not think I would be talking with you on this so soon--I thought the encyclopedia would quell your curiosity until you got older. Looks like I was wrong. Your mind is too mature and you learn too fast. I don't believe in hiding this stuff from young ones, and most pokemon do not hide this from their kids either. It was never hidden from me, though I know some others who it was hidden from. You're old enough to understand."  
  
With that, she pulled Madhea aside, high above on a hill, and well out of earshot, to patiently answer the girl's questions about the facts of life.  
  
****  
  
As soon as they left, Mewtwo sighed. Madhea might as well know of it early. He had not known of such things until he had kidnapped Nurse Joy to get information on pokemon physiology from her. It was from her that he had come to understand how life was conventionally created, not simply copied as he had been.  
  
He shook his head to himself. Not that he ever expected to indulge in any such activity himself. He doubted he even had a sensual side and besides, he was so different he had long ago declared it off-limits hand had buried it and forgotten about it, figuring he had no right.  
  
*****  
  
As the sun sank lower in the west, Sharie and Madhea returned to the waterfall enterance. Madhea was very quiet now, a lot on her mind. Sharie was also quiet, and Mew watched them both thoughtfully.  
  
"The young one has a difficult decision to make, doesn't she?" Mew observed.  
  
Sharie started. "I assume Mewtwo told you everything else, then?"  
  
"Yes. You are right in knowing what is best for Madhea, but you and she are also so attached to each other. It is also right that it is Madhea's choice alone."  
  
Madhea turned to look at them--it was clear she had been listening. "It is not right that I must be forced to choose like this," she whispered. It had been on her mind too--too much, lately.  
  
"Your destiny must be your own, Madhea," Sharie whispered to her. "And Mewtwo agrees, if he decides you can stay."  
  
"It is beautiful here. It's peaceful, and I could grow up in safety, away from those who would try and hurt pokemon like us. I already have new friends, and it would be easy to be content here," Madhea stammered. "I like Mewtwo a lot, too, and if it were any other way, Sharie, you were right, I don't want to leave."  
  
Sharie nodded, but felt her throat tighten.  
  
Madhea's eyes suddenly filled with fire. "But there is the flip side, too! Sharie, I *know* all you want for me is my safety and my happiness. I know better than anyone what is in your heart because it is also in mine. I'd be happy following you to the ends of the earth and hang the dangers. But I know the consequences of what I decide are *deep*, either way! If I go with you, I risk exposing myself *and* Mewtwo to the outside world, and neither of us could ever be safe. Everyone would want the power of Mewtwos and not care for what we might feel. Or use us as weapons."  
  
She swallowed the bitter lump in her throat. "Giovanni could even re-learn of us, a fate you saved me from. If I stay here, all that can be avoided, I would live in beauty and in peace, with friends all around--but you can't be there--my own human sister! Oh, Sharie!" She reached for her friend, and Sharie hugged her tightly, wishing desperately she could take away Madhea's agony or at least feel it for her. But she could not, which hurt all the worse.  
  
Madhea was trembling hard. "All this goes just beyond me--it will affect everyone. And yet you say my deepest heart's desires must also come into play. My deepest desires are to both stay with you, because I love you so much! And yet I've grown to love it here, too, and everyone would all be so much safer if I did not follow my impulses to stay with you! How can I decide this, Sharie! And yet, I know I must! Is it so selfish of you to want me with you instead of leaving me here?"  
  
"My feelings are beside the point, Madhea," Sharie said, feeling an awful burning pain in her heart as she pulled back, looking Madhea in the eye. Both were trembling. She forced the words out because they were the truth. "Ever since I found you my only reason for existence has been you. I want to keep you with me so badly my heart is in shreds. But that is the most selfish thing I could do to you, exposing you to such a cruel world that would never let us be. And all because it was how *I* wanted it to be, because of how I feel. It is so dangerous, Madhea, and heaven help me, I will not put you in danger just because of my selfish desires!"  
  
She swept an arm outwards, indicating the serene, inviting beauty around them. "Here you are safe, and here you could be happy with clones like yourself, far from greedy, evil man. But, because of that, since I am human--there is no possible way for me to fit into this mold. It must be your own heart's deepest desires against what is best for us all that must make you choose. There can be no other way. I will be an empty shell once I leave you but it is for the best, at least certainly more than my selfishness."  
  
Sharie's voice strangled, though her eyes remained dry.  
  
"Where would you go?" asked Mew.  
  
"I don't know. The only thing I am really good for is wandering around in the pokemon's shadow, healing them and caring for them. I've never really felt quite human but the closest I could come to being pokemon is to walk in their shadow, protecting and caring for them. It's something I've considered doing for years--until I can find a place where *I* belong, too."  
  
Madhea swallowed. "I don't want you to be simply doomed to that after you leave me!"  
  
"There's little else I can do, Madhea. I don't want to simply follow Da's footsteps, and yet besides you I've had no real destiny. Here, however, you have a chance to make your own. It is your choice."  
  
Madhea did something she had never done before.  
  
Her large ameythst eyes shimmered, and filled with tears. Madhea felt the burning ache in her heart in her eyes now, too. She was so overwhelmed she could not help it. She stood there, shaking like a leaf, staring at Sharie. Only two sparkling droplets overflowed and ran down her face.  
  
Surprised, her hand came up and touched the dampness. "What are--these? Am I--*crying*?"  
  
Sharie nodded, reaching out and touching Madhea's face.  
  
"....I did not think I can cry....what use are tears in this world?"  
  
"Tears mean your heart can feel, Madhea," Sharie whispered, hugging her shivering companion hard. "I may have forgotten how, but that is my own doing. Everyone has a right to them, even clones. I never, ever want you to forget that, or turn your heart into stone. Da used to tell me a bedtime story that I've since seen come true, in my visions--when pokemon are sad, and they cry, their tears are filled with a magic of life's essence. In the old stories they worked miracles, a miracle I saw myself. So don't be ashamed."  
  
Sharie pulled back and looked into Madhea's eyes. Two more shimmering tears had made their way down Madhea's cheeks. "Whatever happens, Madhea, have you forgotten what we share?" She reached out and took Madhea's hand, placing both their hands on Madhea's chest. "What do you feel?" she asked.  
  
"My heart," quivered Madhea, feeling the steady thrumming beneath their hands.  
  
Sharie took Madhea's other hand and placed that and her other hand on her own chest. "What do you feel here?"  
  
"Your own heart," Madhea whispered.  
  
"Feel them," Sharie said sincerely. "Aren't they beating the same rhythm?"  
  
Madhea swallowed, concentrating on the thumping she felt beneath her fingertips. A flash of surprise ran though her....indeed, both were thumping as one, the same rhythm, the same rate.  
  
As if they shared the same spirit, the same bond.  
  
"They beat like that because of the love and the bonds that hold us tightly in sync in each other's hearts," Sharie said firmly. "Remember what we both said? Our memories of friendship and love, and the bonds that hold us tightly, are held in our hearts. Minds can be breached, but what lies in the heart is indestructible, and no matter what happens, it is where we will always remember each other. So even if I am away, we are never alone. It is going to destroy me to leave you, Madhea, but the bonds that I can keep will be with me forever, because, in part, you will still be with me, and I with you."  
  
"Never forget," Madhea echoed the words she and Sharie had said much earlier in the day.  
  
"Never," Sharie agreed. "Never forget!"  
  
Madhea flung her arms around Sharie again, clinging tightly. No, never could she forget. It would not make her decision any easier--in fact, it was worse--but she knew it also held a measure of comfort as well. When she was ripped away from Sharie she would only be a shell of who she formerly was....but Sharie was right, she would always be with her in part.  
  
Madhea hoped that, if she chose to stay, she could bear it.  
  
****  
  
Meowth and Pikachu had crept closer during this whole time, and had heard most of what happened. They felt sincerely sorry for Madhea and Sharie, whom they had come to like very much.  
  
"Meowth." Meowth came up beside Mewtwo quietly. "I have an idea. Why don't they *both* stay? I like them both well enough!"  
  
"Pikapi." Pikachu was in agreement. "We all see it, Mewtwo. She means us no harm. Sharie has nowhere else to go but back to her world of labratories. She can do more than that. Not all humans are alike, even ones who have such close ties to ones *you* might hate. Didn't Ash teach us that?"  
  
Mewtwo blinked, glad they were speaking too low for Sharie to hear. He did not answer Pikachu right away, but his thoughts whirled.  
  
Her? Stay? That was an impossible notion--wasn't it?  
  
He had been frozen by seeing Madhea cry, and struck deeply in his heart at such visible bonds the human scientist and young Mewtwo had in their hearts. He had never cried in his life (to his knowledge), and yet Madhea trusted herself enough to let herself do it. He also had suddenly understood Sharie's words about heartbonds being indestructible--he could not erase her memory *or* Madhea's. Their minds might forget but not their hearts, and doing something so drastic would be much more destructive in the end. Hadn't he seen their power for himself? Didn't Ash and his Pikachu have such tight bonds? Nothing could tear them apart. And Madhea was so young. If she had been older, an adult, he wondered if it would have been any easier....but he wasn't sure. How could he ever know?  
  
Madhea's stability in her soul stemmed from the very love Sharie had given her in her cruical early life. Could he see that destroyed? He had already come to care for Madhea very much, and he would welcome a companion like himself, he understood that now. He'd gladly protect her from the cruel outside world until she was old enough to defend for herself, to finish training her and make her a capeable adult--but was it worth this painful price, not only to Madhea, but to Sharie as well? He was no longer sure.  
  
And what of the shared mystery of their pasts? Was Amber a secret part of his past he did not remember? And how did Sharie fit into this? If she left so soon, he might never find out. She was linked to Madhea but she was linked to him as well--in a different way. If it stayed like this even if she was gone she would never be really *gone*. A deep desire had been awakened within him, to discover the secrets of a past he no longer recalled. As painful as he sensed it to be, he *had* to know something of who he was, and if Sharie was that key.....  
  
*And if the girl turns out to betray you?* his ever-present brain reminded him.  
  
"I do not know about that," he answered Pikachu and Meowth quietly. "I have a lot on my mind, you two. The girl is going to stay for a few days anyways. By then...."  
  
Pikachu and Meowth looked at each other, grinning. So Mewtwo was not entirely opposed to the idea of Sharie staying, at least for a little while. He might have his own private motives for Sharie if she stayed more than a few days, but at least she would be here. She was much more like them than it had first seemed.  
  
****  
  
Madhea had fallen silent. She had finally let go of Sharie and wandered away a little. A couple of her new friends, the baby Nidoqueen and Rhyhorn, came over to where she sat on the grass. They curled up around her, attempting to offer her their support. They did not want her to be sad.  
  
Both Sharie and Madhea were privately grateful they cared so much.  
  
A short distanc away, Mewtwo pressed the locket back into Sharie's hand. "Here. I forgot to give you this back."  
  
"Thank you," said Sharie soberly, looking sadly at Amber's cheery picture before snapping the locket shut.  
  
"Amber was a beautiful child," he commented quietly.  
  
"She was. Her soul was beautiful. Whether wa being was a pokemon or a person made no difference to her. Her father and mother loved her very much, and when she--" Sharie stopped abruptly. "It is why I forgave my father and uncle for being so foolish as to get mixed up with Team Rocket. It had all been for her sake."  
  
*The sake of a human, at the expense of pokemon?* Mewtwo wondered in his brain, but he shoved the nasty thought aside. "What happened to her?" he asked.  
  
"She became sick very fast. I am glad she did not suffer. That is when she died the first time...." Sharie swallowed. "Uncle Daryn managed to revive her consciousness and hold it in suspension, but it did not last. She faded away and literally died a second time. Da said the other pokemon clones also did about the same time. Only you did not, for some reason."  
  
Sharie shut her mouth hard, unable to talk about it any more. Mewtwo silently understood, and swallowed his question.  
  
Sharie unclasped the chain from around her neck to refasten the locket to it. The other object hanging from it flashed, and caught a nearby Mew's eye.  
  
He wasn't sure he saw it right, and came closer. "What's that, Sharie?" he indicated the diamond-shaped charm around her neck.  
  
"What, this?" Sharie held up the chain, so the charm flashed in the setting sunlight. The Amethyst-colored gem in the center seemed to glow with it's own fire. The diamond-shaped gem was set in a diamond background that seemed to be made of seashell. "To be honest, I don't know what it's for. It is one of the strangest things I've ever seen."  
  
"Where did you get it?"  
  
She looked at him quizzically. "This is going to sound strange, but I had a strange dream that a small, green creature with wings pushed that into my hand one night. When I woke up the next morning it was indeed in my hand. I have no idea why, nor the real reason behind what it can do."  
  
"Do you know anything more about it?" asked Mew.  
  
"Well..." Sharie trailed off. "I think it has some strange magic to it, but I'm not sure why. Watch."  
  
She tapped the amethyst stone twice with her index finger and once with her ring finger, then once with her index finger again.  
  
All at once, the clear amythest stone began to glow, as if someone had lit a fire in the center. The charm in Sharie's hand began to change shape, and with a shower of golden sparks, grew.  
  
Within seconds, it was complete. The amythest stone had turned into a small circular shape with a mouthpiece, attached to what looked like a spiral seashell with holes in the top.  
  
Mewtwo was astonished. "What is that?" he asked, awed.  
  
Sharie shrugged. "I think it is a musical instrument of some sort, but....it's strange. I am the only one who can play it."  
  
"She's right about that," said Madhea. "I've tried. When I play it squeals horribly. Sharie can play it like a dream and she says she has no idea how she knows to play it. I don't know why it sounds so bad with me--Sharie taught me how to whittle small flutes out of different tree limbs and I can play those with no trouble. Also--it has some weird effects on surrounding nature."  
  
"Play something?" asked Mew, his tone partially urging. Something in his eyes told Sharie he knew what it was she was holding, and she wanted to ask why. But she only shrugged and lifted the instrument to her lips.  
  
She still had no idea how she was able to play it. The melodies would just seem to flow out of her mouth and from her fingers without her being consciously aware of it. They did so now. At the first note, total slience filled the caverns, catching the attention of every other pokemon. They came and settled nearby, drawn by the sudden, haunting music.  
  
A gentle, flowing melody began to echo off the cavern walls,, and suddenly the whole area took on a haunting presence. The caverns seemed to grow darker, except for the stalactites and stalagmites that lurked in various corners--they took on an oddish violet-purple glow.  
  
As the melody played on, Sharie lost any control she might have had to stop playing. The melody seemed to play itself.  
  
The glowing walls of the cavern began to react to the melody, alternately flickering on and off with each new note.  
  
Mewtwo felt strange, for, almost like a dream, his ability to move or have any control of his body slowly left him, along with any urge he might have had to fight it. To his own amazement, he felt his will being drained as well....as if he could do nothing but stand and listen.  
  
The whole series of caverns seemed to hover in some other twilight realm, suspended in time, as the melody echoed off the walls, soothing every pokemon who heard it, relaxing them totally.  
  
At last the final strands of the song came and went, the last notes reverberated off the walls. All around Sharie, the walls of the caverns stopped glowing, and slowly took on their normal hue.  
  
Nobody moved, even when Sharie lowered the instrument from her lips and opened her eyes.  
  
When she did, Mew noticed an odd light in them, as if it was some guiding force, fade as well, letting reality--and her control of her body--slip back into place.  
  
All around them, the other pokemon were utterly still, completely relaxed, as if they were utterly disinclined to move ever again. The baby Rhyhorn and Nidoqueen had fallen asleep, soothed by the haunting melody.  
  
Mewtwo felt *so* strange, even as he blinked, feeling his control returning to him. What the heck had happened? That music had done something very strange to him....very strange to all his fellow pokemon. He had never felt so odd before, as if he could not move....some unseen force had stopped his will short, so he had no control over anything.  
  
It had been plesant, and yet he was pretty sure he did not entirely like it. He did not like not being in control. Shaire had a perfect means on her to control him.  
  
Mew seemed to sense his thoughts, for he suddenly heard Mew privately in his mind, so nobody else could hear.  
  
*The girl is not aware of the full effects of it, Mewtwo,* he sent. *Don't think otherwise. She meant no harm. All of this just affirms my earlier thoughts about her.*  
  
Mewtwo did not know what to say just yet.  
  
Aloud Mew only said, "Sharie, I'd advice you to keep that with you at all times. You may need it one of these days."  
  
She looked oddly at him. "Do you know what this is?"  
  
"All I can say is that you are one lucky kid. Only those meant to use them can play them, and whatever force gave that to you saw something in you worthy enough to decide you could make use of it. So don't lose it, okay?"  
  
Sharie stared at him quizzically, but nodded.  
  
"If you play that again," Mewtwo broke in, "Give a little forewarning first. I had no idea it would....do that."  
  
"I won't play it if you don't want me to," Sharie returned softly. "I think the cavern walls intensified the effects."  
  
"Look around you, Sharie," said Mewtwo quietly. "You've made my fellow clones very happy tonight, and for that, I thank you. I can't forbid you to play that....just warn us first."  
  
Sharie did look around.....she really had no idea what the effect of her music had on the other pokemon. They all looked relaxed, as if their spiritual batteries had been completely recharged. They were moving around again, with bright eyes and in more cheerful spirits than she sensed they normally had. She looked at her instrument in wonder. *It never did that on such a scale before.....not so strongly....but then, the caverns echoing the melody might have intensified it.....*  
  
She was not sure. But she was glad that, even inadvertenly, she had made the pokemon clones happy. It made it all worthwhile.  
  
****  
  
Mewtwo took Mew aside. "I saw that look in your eyes. Sharie's melody reminded you of something. Your coming here today was not just a social call, was it?"  
  
"No," answered Mew. "I think the earth is in trouble, Mewtwo. Moreso than what happened several months ago, when the beast of the sea was unleashed--you don't know much about that, do you?"  
  
"No," said Mewtwo. "It did greatly disturb my fellow clones, and even I sensed the earth in trouble, but I felt we had no right to respond, and I did not know if we could help in any way."  
  
"I am beginning to sense a deep disturbance once again," said Mew. "Many of the legendary pokemon of Earth are beginning to sense it, deep down. I know you've been vaguely aware of it, too. And looking at your guests now, I noticed something else. So are they."  
  
Mewtwo wasn't sure what to say.  
  
"Madhea is a powerful pokemon, I know even she senses it deep down. Most other pokemon can't sense it yet, but soon they will. But there is something more. Humans usually aren't gifted with this sense, but I believe that the human girl feels it as well."  
  
Mewtwo blinked. "What?"  
  
"She has the pokemon's sense about the earth and nature in general. Most humans could never hope to be given such a sense, but Sharie, on a deep subliminal level, is as aware of the planet we live on as any pokemon, even a legendary pokemon. I sensed it when I probed her mind; she's been unconsciously aware of the disturbance for some time now. She's been gifted with other abilities only pokemon should have, maybe I should not be surprised to know she also has this sense in her, too."  
  
"You came to know if I had sensed it as well?"  
  
"Yes. The sense is so faint that I wanted to make sure even I was not feeling things. But the sense might grow stronger over time if the threat does not resolve itself. I do not know. It reminded me, though, that Sharie's being born with so many powers must have been for a deeper purpose than she knows of. In history a few humans are known to have walked a fine line between their world and the pokemon world, a world of moonshadow, and I think she's one of them. Only time will tell for sure."  
  
Mew did not say anything more. He kept the rest of his thoughts about Sharie to himself, for now.  
  
The more he knew her, the more mysterious she became to him.  
  
****  
  
Okay, that's it for part 7. Watch out for part 8, when Madhea, having been revived by the waters of Clarity Lake, finds herself in some *serious* trouble as her powers take an incredible upswing--one that threatens her and those around her. Stay tuned. 


	8. Surges

Disclaimers 'n such: Don't own pokemon. Game Freak and Nintendo and all those other bigwigs gave us that fantastic playground for us to dance around in, and they have my everlasting thanks. I am sorry this took so long; I've had a very nasty case of the flu the last several days, impeding both my writing ability *and* my ability to get to a computer with internet access.  
  
This is Chapter 8 of "Of Moonlight Shadows and Echoes Past". Rated PG13 in this section for violence and mild language--Madhea is going to have an extreme, and very nasty, reaction here, the one I warned about--a really dangerous power surge that puts her in serious danger. What can be done to save her? Read on! Thanks for the continued encouragement from everybody--I really appreciate it.  
  
Oh, yeah, I'm sorry if my descriptions of the moon's phases are a bit fudged--I was trying to figure out how the moon would look at this point in Madhea's life--she was "born" on a full moon and it's been about three months since then, plus the lunar calendar and the 12-month calendar we use are a bit different. I've probably got it all messed up, but I figure that she's seen a total of four full moons by now (including the one on her day of birth, three since) and the half-moon referrs to the extra days of the calendar we use that is longer than the lunar calendar....it would probably take that long for the moon to start waning to a half-moon. It's a rough estimate because I have made no reference to what exact months this has taken place on. Am I making any sense? Probably not. Moon phases aren't my specialty, I'm likely *way* off so just ignore this rambling of mine and enjoy the story....but please, nobody send me info on lunar phases. I'll go nuts trying to figure out if I was right or not, and either way, this story won't get changed for such a bare mention....  
  
Of Moonlight Shadows and Echoes Past, chapter 8  
By ZeoViolet  
  
****  
  
The sun had set, deepening into twilight. One by one, the bright stars overhead began to twinkle and flicker, lending bright beacons of light into an otherwise dark, endless viod that was the sky. The moon rose, too, a waning half-moon that was still brilliant in it's own right.  
  
Madhea stood in the moon's brilliance, her large eyes not moving from the remaining half of the face the moon presented to her. Her amethyst eyes utterly glowed, the moonbeams bouncing off them in the same way that had first dazzled Sharie a little more than three months ago, when Madhea had first seen the full moon for herself--and had inspired her name. It was one of those times when the moonlight seemed to reflect off Madhea's very soul, a very beautiful, precious thing to Sharie. She doubted any other name *but* Madhea, which meant Moonlight Beauty in the pokemon language, would ever fit the young Mewtwo so appropriately.  
  
And now, restored to full health, all that inner beauty was bursting freely of the once-frail exterior. Before, Madhea had been beautiful, but she had been like a frail stem struggling to thrive. Now she was bursting into full bloom, and Sharie was forever grateful to Mewtwo for being so understanding, despite all the conflict he had to suffer with her around.  
  
Sharie felt a flutter go down her spine and in her stomach at once. All wasn't serene, though--she could not get rid of a nagging feeling something bad was going to happen. She had already warned Madhea that with a stronger body and spirit could come a stronger power surge. Madhea had understood. Sharie was not really expecting anything too bad; she and Madhea had come through her other surges well enough. But with the suddenly-healthy body Madhea now had, Sharie expected the next one to be a bit more stressful than most as Madhea's hidden potential was unleashed. She wanted to be there to make sure Madhea got through it with the least amount of trouble possible. It might take a little longer and a bit more effort, but Sharie did not expect it to be much more bothersome than the other surges.  
  
Then why did she feel so funny?  
  
****  
  
Mewtwo and Mew, also, had observed Madhea from time to time. Madhea had a lot on her mind and had not moved from that one spot for over two hours. Mewtwo did not blame her--she faced some very difficult decisions, and rightly, much more than any young child should have to face at her age. But to deny Madhea her freedom as a living creature, to choose her own destiny--despite her age--would be far worse. And in Madhea he sensed a strength; he did not want the wrong decision to destroy that strength or stability. Madhea was far too young, even as mature as she was.  
  
She had thrived on love, he understood now, and he wondered if she could get here enough of what Sharie had given her if he chose to let her stay. Her training, too, would probably fall under his responsibility. He had come to care for Madhea a great deal, her intelligence and her mixture of maturity and childish charm had attracted him, surely, but it was her steadfast gaze that held him enthralled; for he was certain that, while she could see the world in the same shades as he saw it, she could make up her own shades and perspectives. It was a uinque strength--one that could get her in trouble but also could get her quickly out of it.  
  
He had remembered thinking once that if there was another like him out there, trapped in the world of the scientists, or something like that--doing what he detested--that pokemon was better off dead. Looking at Madhea now, another like himself, he wanted to kick himself for ever thinking it.  
  
*No, you are not better off dead, young one. Sharie is right; you have a future and you deserve the best future you can get; the same future all living creatures deserve--and the right to choose them.*  
  
****  
  
Madhea crossed her arms and shivered. She felt strange. She had a dull ache in her stomach and an even duller pain in her head. Probably because she had been standing in one spot for so long. But she had so much on her mind, from the consequences of the decision she had to make to the private discussion she and Sharie had had earlier about the "facts of life". It was a load to absorb, and in the last few minutes Madhea had been soley intent on staring at the moon and losing herself in it's depths, forgetting everything else around her until her emotions returned to normal.  
  
She shivered again, and the dull ache in her head became a bit sharper.  
  
*I feel strange.* Ever since she had drank that water, she'd felt strange--at least physically. She no longer had that vague sense of dragging because she was frail, or the feeling that her powers weren't what they should be because her frailty would not let her express them.   
  
Now she had the vague sense of something in her struggling to get free, and she was not sure she liked it that much.  
  
Suddenly a nasty pain speared her right behind the eyes.  
  
*Ow*, she thought. *Oh, no.*  
  
That pain usually signalled a power surge.  
  
*I know Sharie warned me about this.*  
  
She closed her eyes, automatically concentrating on her mind barriers. The dull ache in her stomach became full-blown nausea for a moment, and she hoped she was not going to be sick.  
  
The feeling faded, not that Madhea was suddenly paying attention to it. A much sharper bolt of lightning stabbed through her temples at that moment, searing her senses in a way she'd never felt it before. It sent a fiery wall of pain licking down every nerve ending, and because it was so unexpected; Madhea could not help her reaction.  
  
She shrieked! Not a mental cry, but a high-pitched, wailing "Meeew!" that reverberated across the cavern walls.  
  
****  
  
Sharie was almost knocked over by the flash of pain that suddenly seared her mind. She had sensed Madhea's first twinge of pain and had already been on the way over. She had seen Madhea cross her arms over her stomach and could almost feel Madhea's nausea as her own--their bonds were tight enough she was always aware if Madhea got in trouble.  
  
But what happened next was completely unfathomable.  
  
Sharie was almost knocked off her feet by another wave of sheer fire, and only dimly did she hear Madhea's desperate cry of pain.  
  
"Oh, no! Madhea!" total instinct took over, she was running for Madhea before she could think.  
  
Another wave knocked her flat. She landed on the grass with a soft "oomph!", physical pain flashing through her legs, ankles, and posterior.  
  
She ignored the bruises she was sure to have later. She could only lift her ameythst gaze in horror as Madhea's body took on a blueish glow.  
  
Dimly, she heard a faint, pleading cry in her mind, fading with each second.   
  
*....Sharie....it hurts!....I can't....*  
  
The mental voice snapped; Sharie knew Madhea was in big, big trouble. Neither of them had expected anything of this magnitude to occur.  
  
****  
  
For Madhea, the pain only intensified. Fire seared every corner of her brain in a ceaseless onslaught of torture. Her awareness of her surroundings began to fade, fast.  
  
Only dimly, though, was she aware that she could no longer hear the outside world. It had all faded in a blur of loud static noise. Her eyes opened, but the world she had come to know was only a blur at best. The colors began to swirl before her eyes, and glow a fiery bluish red.  
  
She could no longer see the world, either.  
  
Massive psychic surges took hold of every nuance in her body and set it afire, and she was suddenly certain she was going to die from the sheer madness.  
  
She'd welcome death if she did not want to live so much.  
  
*Sharie....help me.....*  
  
****  
  
Sharie was only faintly aware of Mewtwo struggling to help her up.  
  
"Madhea's mind is out of control!" she gasped. "I thought she'd have a bit of trouble but I never dreamed she was hiding so much power! It's all hitting her at once!"  
  
Mewtwo could only watch in horror. He'd never experienced such agony himself, not on this level, and he did not know what to do. In his earliest days he'd had some nasty power surges, but Giovanni had taught him control quickly. Madhea, though, was a young girl....maybe that made the difference...  
  
Sharie's own mind was screaming with echoes of fire and pain she sensed emanating from Madhea. The intensity alone taxed her sanity and reasoning. If it was this bad for her, then Madhea--  
  
Madhea suddenly began to glow a brighter color. She lifted into the air, completely unable to control herself. A self-induced Psychic blast hurled her backwards out of the opening she had been standing by, into the starry abyss beyond.  
  
"Madhea!" Sharie cried. She forced herself up and started for the entrance.  
  
Mewtwo had to forcibly grab her hands. "Don't! She'll destroy herself and everyone else, and that would include you if you got too close!"  
  
She struggled against his superior physical strength. "Madhea's mind is on fire! She's in pain, Mewtwo! I have to do something, or she'll go mad! She could even tear herself inside out and take everyone with her--she's that powerful by now! I've *got* to do something!"  
  
"Do you know of anything that can be done?"  
  
"She's lost awareness of her surroundings. I can do nothing until I re-establish contact! Somehow, in some manner, there *has* to be a way!"  
  
With a fierce jerk, she freed her hand from Mewtwo's powerful grasp, struggling towards the entrance. Resolutely, Mewtwo and Mew both followed.  
  
Just as Sharie reached the edge, Madhea's body began to glow with a ferce light. With a cry of pain, she curled into a fetal position, as if harboring something, struggling against it.  
  
*I cannot hold it!*  
  
She cried out again as her back arched like a springboard, forcing her arms and legs to splay outwards as a powerful psychic explosion radiated in every direction.  
  
Sharie was knocked flat again. Fierce pain surged through her ankle as she felt muscles twist that should not twist like they did.   
  
The pain radiating in her head was even worse.  
  
She moaned softly and opened her eyes. Madhea was still in the air; Sharie was thankeful for that--it would have added to her guilt greatly if the short-range blast had hit the ground far below and hurt somebody.  
  
She had to act; now.  
  
Sharie knew it could kill her; she did not care.  
  
She would save Madhea somehow, even if she died trying. Pain burned in her heart--Madhea was everything to her, and Sharie had no intention of breaking the vow she had made months ago to protect Madhea, and see to her happiness, at all costs.  
  
Her eyes began to glow, and she telepathically lifted off the ground.  
  
Mewtwo stared after her. Maybe Sharie *was* the only one who could do something--it was *she* who had been training Madhea, and *she* who probably knew Madhea's mind well enough to save her life. He wished he could do more, and it was a frustrating ache in his heart to know that his own abilities were lacking in such an area.  
  
*I can only reach Madhea with my heart,* Sharie's voice dimly echoed in his mind. *It is the only path in which I still might be able to reach her--on *any* level.*  
  
*You could be killed,* he felt compelled to warn her.  
  
*I do not care. She will come out of this safe and sound or I will die trying.*  
  
With total shock, Mewtwo realized she meant it. With every nuance of her soul, she meant to try this suicide course.  
  
*Good luck, then,* was all he could think to say mentally. *Mew and I will try to help where we can.*  
  
*Just make sure Luna and Cullen do not wake up to see this.*  
  
*I already did that. They won't budge if the earth exploded around them.*  
  
*Good. Thank you.*  
  
Sharie turned, leaving him with a sad smile, before she drifted outside into the night.  
  
****  
  
She had not gone far when she was stopped short by a physical barrier. Invisible, but there.  
  
*Oh, no!*  
  
The air shimmered where she touched it, and crackled, but stayed solid. Sharie's heart picked up speed.  
  
Madhea, unable to control it, had surrounded herself with invisible psychic barriers, a sure manifestation of the tumulous horror going on inside her mind--and her desire to sheild herself from it!  
  
It would make getting to her more difficult.  
  
Sharie'e eyes glowed more brightly. Resolute, she pushed hard on the barrier with her own mind and body, forcing her way through.  
  
As her body and mind came into contact, she felt like she was moving though a wall of physical fire.  
  
The air shimmered a bluish-red and a crackling sound was heard as she forced her way past.  
  
And almost immediately, encountered another.  
  
With another surge, she pushed past, ignoring the pain. Each barrier got stronger as she got closer to Madhea, and it took more of her precious energy and caused her more pain, but she held her course.  
  
****  
  
Madhea cried out, arching her back sharply as she was attacked from within by another wave of Psychic surges. Fire and lightning zapped at her mind and coursed through her body, more intense than ever.  
  
By now she was totally unaware of the world around her. She had no idea where she was....she barely remembered why she was here.  
  
Only dimly did she sense another force coming closer. It was different--foreign. Madhea was so livid with pain that she was sure it was just another, different wave approaching her senses to flood her with more agony.  
  
*No! Go away! Get out of here!* she flung at the thing, somehow able to summon enough control to level a wide psychic blast in the direction the essence was coming from.  
  
Sharie had to erect a mental sheild of her own to deflect the blow. She rocked in midair, not quite able to totally sheild herself from the damage. If she did not have psychic powers she could have been seriously hurt or even killed.  
  
Her heart rocked with pain, though, for a different reason.  
  
Dimly, she had picked up psychic words-*Go away! Get out of here! I don't want you!*  
  
Inadvertenly, it caused her to flinch more than any physical hurt. The pain of rejection stabbed deeply into her heart, and she wavered in midair.  
  
Only forced calm overrode her clouded judgement--Madhea did not know she was there. At best she was only sensing another entity of psychic energy and pain approaching her--but, having lost awareness of all but the pain tormenting her, could not tell any other difference. The few coherent gestures Madhea was making were pure primeval instinct.  
  
Sharie gritted her teeth and forced herself ever closer. At last, she was within inches of Madhea.  
  
Madhea's eyes were open, but stared at her unseeing and unaware.  
  
*No! I said to GO AWAY!!!* Madhea mentally screamed the words just as Sharie got close.  
  
With no warning, her hands flashed out and grabbed Sharie's arms--hard. With a physical strength borne of adrenaline, She flung Sharie backwards several yards before curling in pain again.  
  
Sharie just missed smashing into the rock walls of Mt. Quena.  
  
Her eyes glowed, and she forced her own mental wave behind her to avoid hitting the mountainside. Madhea had put psychic force behind her throw, and it took considerable effort for Sharie to force herself to stop.  
  
She glanced behind her and sighed--the rock wall was within inches of her face, she had come that close. It was easy to see how quickly she could have been killed.  
  
She paused to take several deep breaths, and to renew her determination. *Madhea....you have gotten very strong. You must learn to harness all that energy or we could both destroy ourselves. I won't give up on you, my little friend. Count on it.*  
  
Her eyes glowing blue again, she once again ventured forwards.  
  
****  
  
Madhea had made one mistake.  
  
In curling her body, she had turned her back to Sharie. As she advanced beyond the psychic sheilds, Sharie noticed this and realized she probably had only one chance.  
  
It took precious energy to disguise her mind long enough to get close, but she made one sudden lunge through the air, grabbing Madhea tightly from behind.  
  
Madhea shrieked!  
  
Her back arched and she began to struggle violently.  
  
*So some physical sensation is getting through after all, if you can feel me, Madhea. There is hope yet.*  
  
Madhea could not hear the words, even in her mind. She was only aware that the same force had taken on some physical nature as well, and was holding her from behind, refusing to let go.  
  
She intensified her assault, her flailing arms beating at Sharie's own arms and hands (and landing a few elbows to her ribs), her kicking feet inflicting physical pain on Sharie's legs.  
  
Sharie ignored it all, she only held on tightly as she formulated the one possible idea that might work.  
  
What she was about to do went against anything and everything she had ever been taught or felt was wrong about entering another person's mind. It was going to hurt like hell to both of them, but Sharie was certain it was the only way to re-establish contact.  
  
If there was anything left of Madhea's mind after all this. If there was, Sharie could only hope Madhea forgave her for it later.  
  
She closed her eyes and drew a deep breath, forcing all of her psychic energy into a single spear of power.  
  
Gritting her teeth and reflexively holding onto Madhea even more tightly, she plunged the sharp psychic dagger deeply into the hellfire recesses of Madhea's tourtured mind.  
  
Madhea screamed! Sharie's psychic blade drove deeply into the tormented recesses of Madhea's mind as she desperately searched, trying to find out if Madhea had any sense of Self left to salvage.  
  
*Madhea....please....answer me...I'm here.*  
  
Nothing, nothing but aching torment answered her cry, torment that now began bearing down on Sharie as well as the hurricane of Madhea's powers threatened to drown her own senses....Sharie was tempted to flinch--she was not Madhea, how could she do anymore?  
  
Swiftly she pushed the thought aside, getting control of herself. *I have to do this! For Madhea's sake, I must!*  
  
Sharie drove deeper. *Madhea! Madhea, answer me, please!*  
  
*....Sharie?*  
  
It was a bare glimmer, but Sharie's heart recognized it instantly.  
  
*Madhea? Can you hear me?*  
  
In her arms Madhea writhed with the continued agony.  
  
*Sharie...hurts....help....*  
  
*I'm trying, baby. Just hang on. Focus on me.*  
  
Even as she said this, she felt Madhea's voice growing weaker.  
  
*Try....* was the weak reply.   
  
*I need you to focus, Madhea. I'll try to stop some of the pain so you can focus.*  
  
Sharie gritted her teeth, squeezing her eyes shut. The psychic dagger in her mind expanded outwards, coming into tumulous contact with the sensory hell that had become Madhea's world. Almost immediately she was overwhelmed by a wave of fiery power.  
  
Gods! She had no idea Madhea had been harboring so much power!  
  
For a moment, she floundered, searcing for a way to smother some of the flames.  
  
Water.  
  
She pictured water. Her mind was a great tidal wave of the liquid that always held fire in check. She pictured it spreading in a flood, smothering some of the worst waves of pain in Madhea's mind.  
  
Madhea must now sense her presence, for her struggles were suddenly not so violent.  
  
*Madhea. Try to hear. I need your help in this, my friend. I need your heart and mind with mine so we can do this. Together.*  
  
*How? Can't....can't feel....hear....see....*  
  
Sharie knew she had to try a different tactic than anything she had used before. Other times it had been a question of simple mental control.  
  
Now was different. Madhea desperately needed some outside stimulus to focus on, to reconnect her with the world. It would give her leverage to build her mental sheilds back up, Sharie hoped.  
  
She pushed her powers harder, smothering more of the flames as her own sheilds lended their shell to quell Madhea's pain.  
  
*Madhea, listen to me! Open your ears, try to hear! It will help you focus!*  
  
Even as she sensed Madhea struggling to comply, Sharie could only think of one thing that would give Madhea something familiar to latch onto.  
  
She opened her mouth and began to sing.  
  
There were no words. The only melody that came to Sharie's mind and lips were the notes from the song she had played earlier. They flowed out of her mouth now in a sweet, clear harmony that echoed over the night sky and the valley below.  
  
Sharie had no idea she had a beautiful voice, but she hoped it was clear enough that Madhea could hear it.  
  
Dimly, though the bursts of pain, it came. A distant echo of a soothing nature. Since her whole world was pain, Madhea knew that anything soothing had to be Sharie's doing. She focused what little energy she had under her control towards that sound.  
  
*Focus, Madhea. You are the master of your own mind. Focus on the song, let yourself harmonize with it. Your powers are a part of you, let them harmonize as well. Master your mind, Madhea--don't let it master you. I love you, little one, with everything I am. I am here to help bring you back. Let your mind harmonize...."   
  
It must have done something, for the melody came in more clearly, and Madhea felt herself still a bit more. Dimly, she felt the foreign presence in her mind take on Sharie's essence, and she moved towards it. Once their energies connected, both began to glow a brilliant shade of blue as their minds struggled to take on a symbiosis.  
  
Madhea's eyes opened, and so did Sharie's. From his vintage point, he saw both their eyes glowing the way his did when he was using an extreme amount of power.  
  
Sharie did not stop singing. Madhea had focus now, she knew where Sharie was. Sharie felt her power and Madhea's connect, and let her control blanket Madhea's mind completely, stilling the awful pain that had plagued her. Their minds connected, practically becoming one essence.  
  
Madhea's ears opened completely, and she let the soothing melody rush over her. Her whole body began to tingle with relief and exhaustion. Her physical body went limp, yet they continued to glow, taxing the last of their strength.  
  
However, Madhea did not lose awareness of the mental dam Sharie was struggling to keep under control. Freed of the pain, Madhea took Sharie's unspoken cue to raise her own barriers.  
  
Madhea was aware of herself enough now to gather the ragged edges of her control and put them back together. Underneath all the pain that Sharie was sheilding from her, she discovered a white-bright intensity within herself, at the very core of her new power--the essence of control. She struggled to mimic how Sharie was holding her powers, and gradually, a pattern emerged. The melody reached her ears clearly now, and as her power assumed it's natural place within her mind and spirit, Madhea felt herself mastering her mind once again, bringing it all back under her control.  
  
Sharie silently understood what was happening. It was all working now. She began letting her sheilds down gradually, gently ebbing herself from Madhea's mind. Madhea's own natural talents of control at last asserted themselves, and gradually, she was able to accept control of her own powers, bit by bit.  
  
All at once, they both stopped glowing as Madhea's mental control snapped into place like a clasp, and both ceased emitting psychic power of any kind.  
  
Madhea went completely limp in her arms. Sharie turned the girl around and cradled her fiercely to her heart. Faintly she could feel Madhea's exhausted heartbeat, echoing her own. Their bonds had survived the catastrophe! Mixed in with her exhaustion were deep feelings of gratitude that both she and Madhea had been spared, and Sharie silently thanked any diety that might be listening.  
  
If she had known how, she would have cried. But since she did not, she only held Madhea tightly, happy she was alive. She had kept her promise to both of them.  
  
*Madhea, now I know it for certain. Your future will be truly bright--brighter than moonlight. As bright as the sun.*  
  
****  
  
Only dimly did Sharie sense them both drifting softly towars the ground far below. She and Madhea were too exahusted to sense anything else. Sharie's own power, as well as Madhea's, were completely drained. Those last taxing moments had even strained their lifeforce as well.  
  
They began to glow again, and Sharie faintly realized it was Mewtwo lifting them gently back up and into the cave.  
  
By the time they got there, Madhea was fully unconscious and Sharie was not far off.  
  
Both Mew and Mewtwo were startled at how awful they looked--Madhea's pallor was ghostly, Sharie herself was a nasty grey. Her hair had blown loose during the ordeal and tumbled haphazardly down her back. Madhea was bruising already; Sharie was covered in scratches and deepening purple tones that told Mewtwo that Madhea's bruises would be nothing compared to hers. The young pokemon was far stronger than she looked; she had really worked a number on Sharie without meaning to.  
  
He was just glad their color only indicated exhaustion this time, not like before. Hopefully after a long sleep, they'd be okay.  
  
Wearily, with a strength she really did not have, Sharie struggled to her feet, Madhea in her arms. Madhea was limper than a rag doll, her small face streaked with tears she must have shed sometime during her ordeal. Sharie lifted her exhausted gaze to Mewtwo's.  
  
"She'll be okay now, thank gods. It was the water--we both knew this could happen, but neither of us imagined that she was harboring so much power or it could hit her the way it did."  
  
"Will it happen again?" Mewtwo asked anxiously.  
  
Sharie wearily shook her head. "I doubt it. At least, not like that, I don't think. Madhea's mind was catching up to her body very suddenly, that was all. I don't think she will have any more power surges as terrible as this one was."  
  
Mewtwo did not say anything. Even if Sharie meant it, her words--to him--had been too full of uncertainty to totally convince him. Her words seemed to imply a slight risk. He could only hope she was right in that nothing would happen.  
  
Sharie slumped against the stone wall, her legs threatening to give way.  
  
"You both need sleep," Mewtwo intoned quickly, concerned. "We'll discuss this more in the morning. Sleep as long as you need to."  
  
Weakly Sharie struggled to the bedroll she had already set out under a fruit tree. Mewtwo and Mew followed close behind to make sure she did not stumble. Upon reaching it, Sharie simply lay Madhea down on one side and slumped onto the other. She did not bother to fix her hair or even change--she was unable to do any more.  
  
Except for one thing. Mewtwo was barely aware of it, but because Sharie's defenses were more down than they had been in a long time, it whispered across his own senses.  
  
Sharie, despite her exhaustion, still was keeping a mental edge on Madhea's mind.  
  
He even heard her reasons whisper in his mind, though she did not intend for him to hear it.  
  
Madhea needed rest so badly. Sharie was determined that Madhea would sleep soundly, unbothered by her powers, until she was okay again.  
  
*In that case, how is Sharie going to get any sleep?* Mewtwo knew that if Sharie's mind, despite it's limited powers she had left, was strained in keeping Madhea's in check as a failsafe, any sleep she did get would probably not be very restful.  
  
Sharie, however, did not sense his thoughts or care. Her last dim thoughts were of Madhea.  
  
Madhea herself only came to a faint awareness once. Only vaguely aware of where she was, she scooted the few inches to Sharie slumped beside her on the bedroll. She reached out instinctively and locked her arms around Sharie tightly. She lost awareness again just in time to feel Sharie's own arms going about her, as well.  
  
For Sharie, too, the darkness slid in. They fell asleep that way, locked together and secure in the safety the other offered.  
  
*Dream of moonbeams, Madhea. You can now, for the pain you felt earlier is no more.*  
  
****  
  
Only then did Mewtwo and Mew both slump to the ground, exhausted themselves by what they had just seen. Mewtwo was awhirl with emotions he could not voice.  
  
Probably unbeknownst to both Sharie and Madhea, he had inadvertently sensed what was going on between them, their thoughts and actions as Sharie had struggled to bring Madhea's mind under control. It was their deep bonds that had allowed Madhea to respond against the pain, and to completely harmonize her mind with Sharie's so Sharie could guide her out of the madness she had suffered though.  
  
Now, more than ever, their deep, soulful bonds were clear to him. Was he right in taking Madhea away, or making Sharie give her up? What Madhea decided he would go by, but was it worth the agony to both of them for Madhea to be removed from Sharie forever--simply because of who she was and what the outside world could do to both of them?  
  
Another thought made chills run down his spine. What if it happened again? Despite Sharie's thoughts it would not; they had both been aware of a faint chance that it could. If it did, could he handle it? He cared for Madhea so much now, even though he had only known her a day. That sharp lonliness that had plagued his heart so much dimmed when she was near, for he knew she could truly respond to him because she was like him. Fate had handed him a rare opprotunity to have some companionship in his life, a real friend who could understand him on his own terms and accept him for who he was.  
  
And yet, he was sure he could not do what Sharie had done. Sharie alone knew Madhea's heart and mind so well. Though they thought of themselves as sisters in spirit, when it came to protecting Madhea, Sharie's actions were clearly those of a mother guarding her child from harm.  
  
Closer than sisters, Madhea's trust and love for Sharie had been the key to all of this.  
  
Was it possible for him to insist this be all torn apart?  
  
And if such a surge happened to Madhea again, he knew he probably could not handle it the way Sharie had, he realized. Only because he had been fully mature when he escaped his tank had helped him gain control so quickly. Madhea had been born like an infant, and it was highly likely that Mew babies relied on an adult figure to guide them as their powers matured.  
  
For Madhea, Sharie was that figure. Mewtwo might be able to teach her control and battling techniques, but until Madhea was grown and could fend for herself, it was likely only Sharie would be able to penetrate Madhea's mind and heart the way Madhea needed it to be--Sharie did all of it not by bending another's will, but by the strength of her own heart.  
  
Dimly Mewtwo remebered Meowth and Pikachu's assertion that Sharie should stay. Was it possible he could allow it? Most of his pokemon already trusted her despite who she was. They clearly could see *something* in her. Mew himself had stated she was not an ordinary human.  
  
It would keep Madhea here *and* give Madhea what she wanted most. Sharie had little desire to return to her lab world--so she had said. And if she stayed, she could ensure Madhea's safety when her surges came.  
  
And Sharie also probably was an important key to his past he had no memory of. Mewtwo had been seized by a desire to know what was missing in his head, and fate had seemingly dropped someone in his lap that could help him find out. How, he wasn't certain, but she could somehow help him find out what her relatives had done to him.  
  
Her relatives.  
  
That was the major monkey wrench in this picture. Sharie was bound to get homesick or otherwise want to keep in contact with her family. Wouldn't it be just a *little* too cruel to make her give that up if she stayed? Or was the risk to them all to great to either have her stay or permit her contact with her own family? The corners of his mind still warned him about her, and he was not sure if it was all worth the risk.  
  
"I know even less of what to do now," he muttered aloud to Mew. "Does the girl stay, so she can help protect Madhea? It would keep Madhea happy. I don't want her to leave, Mew, now that I know she exists. But the fact of who Sharie is--"  
  
"Are you going to listen to your doubts? Or your heart?" Mew's question was blunt. "You've learned so many lessons in life, Mewtwo, hard lessons. Many people would only be fair-weather friends at best. But your true friends stick with you and don't betray your trust. On what Sharie and Madhea are to you, you have decisions to make, the same as Madhea does. Does Sharie leave to wander the world as a lost shadow--or is it possible you want her to remain here, despite all the risks? Would you deny her her family--or would you permit contact? In the end, it is up to you as much as it is up to Madhea. Sharie has almost no sense of her self-worth, except where the safety and happiness of Madhea is concerned. Even if it emotionally destroys her she'll do whatever you and Madhea decide is the greater good of everyone. Despite who she is I think she believes that neither of you deserve less. It is for you and Madhea to decide, and she won't interfere in the end."  
  
"I know," Mewtwo sighed, watching the exhausted pair nearby. "I know."  
  
It wasn't easy. He never dreamed he would ever go so far out just to ensure the happiness and safety of one pokemon. But his heart told him otherwise, and he was beginning to see the deep reason why Sharie had such an attachment to Madhea and a desire to keep her safe.  
  
For he was beginning to feel it himself.  
  
****  
  
End Chapter 8.  
  
Well--Like it? Or not? I hope the action scene was okay--writing adventure sequences is *not* my specialty. I prefer emotional drama. In chapter 9, some important decisions must be made, and new possibilites will be voiced. Maybe even a new character or two, if I pace it right. I'm not sure yet. 


	9. Languages

Disclaimer: Don't own pokemon. Thanks to you all for your continued encouragement, especially Mystic Mewtwo.  
  
Chapter nine of "Of Moonlight Shadows and Echoes Past." I'm still not feeling well and I hope that my flu did not affect my writing ability too much. In this chapter is the aftermath of the horror Madhea had to endure. I am not sure a PG-13 rating is needed for this chapter. Enjoy.  
  
Oh, yeah, I just finished watching the pokemon episode with that pokemon "interpreter". It left me scratching my head. Of *course* pokemon can understand the human langauge, even if they don't speak it! Haven't we seen this demonstrated numerous times? I don't consider that old guy to have Sharie's instinctive ability, though his skills are good and he's not too far off. Guess Sharie's proof that those "fairy tales and legends" Professor Oak quoted have some basis in "reality"--at least theirs :D Anyways, the episode prompted a commentary worked into this section as a result....  
  
Of Moonlight Shadows and Echoes Past, chapter 9  
By ZeoViolet  
  
****  
  
Exhausted as she was, that night Sharie's sleep was not exactly peaceful. The first few hours were a dark void of nothingness in which she was aware of little, but a sense of unease hounded her around the edges.  
  
*You have a purpose, Sharie,* she swore she hear a faint voice echoing through the void. *You will know one day what your purpose is in the shadow realm in which you walk.....*  
  
the echoing voice faded, and Sharie's unconscious mind all but forgot most of the words.  
  
Again, deep in her soul, she sensed a disturbance--or something that might happen one day. She'd rarely in her life had premonitions of the future; that was one psychic area that she was not gifted with. But she was mystified by this. Whether it was to happen or not she did not know, it could or it could not. Fate could split you in any number of directions--even those who would have had a purpose otherwise could diverge if they made the wrong choices.  
  
All she knew about this was that she was one of the few humans who had this pokemon sense, and, very faintly, it was telling her something was not quite right--or one day would not be, she could not tell that much.  
  
Her mind drifted again.  
  
****  
  
Amber's deep ameythst eyes, so like her own, faded as the rest of her faded away. Her voice, soft and sweet, gradually became quieter as it faded as well.  
  
"Don't cry, Mewtwo. Don't be sad, Sharie. You're alive....and life is wonderful.....is wonderful....wonderful...."  
  
She was gone; the last echoes of her voice reverberated in the sudden darkness surrounding her. Horror flashed through Sharie, and a fierce pain clutched at her heart--Amber was gone!  
  
*Amber, please no! You've always been my only friend! Amber!*  
  
Sharie felt a suffocating sensation envelop her, as if something was forcibly suppressing a part of her she desperately did not want to lose. The darkness enveloped her, pressing on her lungs, cutting off her air.  
  
She woke up suddenly, crying aloud!  
  
"Amber! No, please no!"  
  
With a jerk, she suddenly realized she was sitting bolt upright. Sunlight streamed in from some of the openings in the cavern walls, and she suddenly realized where she was.  
  
Mewtwo was standing right beside her, looking down at her. Startled, she raised amethyst eyes to his own, of depths she could not discern his mood from.  
  
Already her dream was fading fast back into the dark clutches of her memory block, out of her conscious memory. Desperately she tried to recall what she had seen, and the few scraps of images she did still recall she mentally blazed on her conscious mind so she would not forget again.  
  
"Are you okay?" Mewtwo was asking. "I heard you screaming in your sleep."  
  
She only stared at him, breathing hard. Her soul was still in turbulence and it showed in her eyes and her trembling frame.  
  
"You cried Amber's name," he said softly.  
  
So it was *that* which had caught his attention.  
  
She ducked her head, nodding, and immediately winced with pain as the simple movement speared her joints with total agony. She looked down at herself--she was a mess of scratches and bruises!  
  
She swallowed, trying to find her voice. "Amber--I saw something.....but I already can't remember most of it! Oh, Mewtwo! Just a whisper--life is wonderful. It's her voice saying it, but it fades away!"  
  
Something she could not quite discern flashed in his eyes for a moment.  
  
"Those very words have haunted me for as long as I can recall," he stated softly. "And I would give about anything right now to find out what happened."  
  
"I am sorry I can't help more," she whispered, pained. Gods, how that dream--that fragment of memory, had aroused the old hurts she had worked so hard to bury!  
  
"I don't know about that yet. How do you feel?"  
  
*Sorer than you can imagine,* she wanted to say, but the word "stiff," was all that escaped her lips.  
  
In a flood, she recalled the horrors last night had brought. She remembered Madhea's shrieks of pain, the agony they had both endured, and how it had almost killed them both to bring her powers under control.  
  
Alarmed, Sharie looked down at Madhea, curled beside her on the bedroll.  
  
Madhea was breathing, regular and quiet, but she was as limp now as she was last night. Darker purple areas were around her chest and stomach where Sharie had held her so tightly, not letting go. It made Sharie feel guilty, but she'd had no choice.  
  
Sharie frowned, raising a *very* sore arm to touch her forehead, then Madhea's. The sheilds she'd silently kept up last night, to protect Madhea so she could rest, were still in place, thank gods. Madhea was not as ghostly pale as she was last night, nor was it the same hue as before she had drank the waters of clarity lake. It was the color that came with total exhaustion and stress.  
  
"Thank gods she'll be okay," Sharie whispered. "What time is it?"  
  
"I think it is about noon," Mewtwo replied, glad Madhea would be okay. "You've slept for about fourteen hours."  
  
"Fourteen hours!" Sharie exclaimed. "I don't think I've ever slept that long before."  
  
"If memory serves me correctly you and Madhea were both nearly killed last night. It is logical you'd need so much rest. If you want to, go back to sleep."  
  
"No," Sharie answered somberly. "Last night I was drained of too much of my energy to let it bother me, but now....I remember all of what happened last night, crystal clear. I have a memory more clear than a steel trap, Mewtwo. Most of my family has it--my family is psychic and it is a resulting curse. I'd never be able to get back to sleep now."  
  
"Suit yourself. Clarity lake is nearby. You look pretty banged up."  
  
"It doesn't matter." Sharie touched her closed eyes with her fingertips. "I can't drink more of Clarity Lake's waters until I'm certain Madhea is awake and in full control of her powers."  
  
"You wish to sit there in pain?" Mewtwo was incredulous.  
  
"It's not that. If I were to drink it now my own powers might fluctuate. It's been awhile since I last had a power surge myself. Drinking any more of the water now might give them the push to send *me* over the edge. I can't help Madhea's control much that way."  
  
He looked startled, suddenly remembering she had mentioned something along those lines. "This has happened to you, too?"  
  
Sharie closed her eyes momentarily against the pain in her whole body. "Not so extreme," she answered with effort. It hurt to even talk. "Madhea had a heck of a lot of pent-up power that attacked her all at once. I had no idea she was harboring so much. Mostly, though, when it happens to me I have only had myself to deal with it, despite the pain it causes. Madhea's not only much younger, the problem I think has a lot to do with genetics."  
  
Mewtwo looked startled. "The scientists make a mistake?"  
  
"No." Sharie disclaimed the thought quickly. "If they had I would have found out quickly. They used the exact same methods on her as they did on you. The Mew Madhea was cloned from likely had a similar power control problem."  
  
Sharie drew in another pained breath. "Madhea's powers should not bother her any more by the time she is grown. I am fairly certain that what happened last night will not happen again on such a scale, now that her mind's caught up with her suddenly-healthy body. Her frailty had been holding it all back."  
  
"But your not completely certain?" Mewtwo pressed.  
  
"Nothing is for certain. What I am afraid of is the very faint chance of a recurrence on such an extreme level. I have no wish to see Madhea go mad from the pain."   
  
"She will eventually gain the control I have? Even when my powers increase I am able to handle it with ease."  
  
She could see the worry in his eyes and was compelled to reassure him.. "By the time she is grown her powers will still increase but she'll be able to handle it on her own, like you can. Mew parents must help young ones control themselves until then. Baby Mews all have psychic surges, but I doubt most have them in *quite* an extreme fashion as Madhea does. If my guess is right when they mature some inner sense clicks on that enhances control."  
  
Sharie reached down, sore as she was, and touched Madhea's cheeks gently. "Her problem is they attack her so quickly and with so little warning. I'd think most Mews would have more inkling of when it was going to happen so they can prepare more, exercise control before it gets too bad, even before they mature. No wonder Madhea has suffered such pain."  
  
Out of nowhere Mew suddenly spoke up. "I've heard of it," he said quietly. "And yes, Sharie, you are exactly right about that. As for how you handled Madhea...Your methods last night were a bit unorthodox, to say the least, but you did the right thing."  
  
"They saved Madhea, did they not?" Sharie asked. "That is what matters, at least to me."  
  
She lapsed into silence, her eyes glazing over as her thoughts drifted.  
  
*It makes me wonder how far a person will go to protect the ones they love,* thought Mew to himself. *Even moreso that a human would go to such lengths for a pokemon. Didn't Ash do that for his own Pikachu--and for the sake of all the pokemon, cloned or original? Sharie went to the same extreme lengths to save Madhea. I was right--it's unfair to judge soley based on what the outside appears to be, or their background.*  
  
****  
  
"Sharie?" asked Mew, asking a question that had been nagging at him for awhile. "You say you were born with your ability to speak pokemon, don't you? You did not learn it somehow later on? Or your psychic powers help?"  
  
Sharie sighed and rested her chin in her hand. "No, it has nothing to do with my psychic powers, Mew. I can't really explain it. Many trainers and pokemon come to understand each other as time goes on, and their hearts connect. Trainers often eventually get the gist of what their pokemon is saying, without effort. It's a sign of a good trainer. It's even easier with a psychic pokemon because they have more of an ability to make their thoughts heard, with less language barrier hassles. Mewtwo and Madhea do that easy enough."  
  
Sharie reflexively touched her forehead. "But my ability.....I understand pokemon, word-for-word. It's so natural to me that I don't even mentally translate it--you might as well be speaking human language, for all I can understand you. When I respond to a pokemon in their language, Mew, I don't have to think or translate, either--the sounds just come out. I don't have to just push across general ideas--you know it's real dialogue, Mew--aren't I speaking to you in that way now?"  
  
Mew blinked, realizing that halfway though her speech, she had, unobtrusively and without a hitch, swtiched to the Mew sub-language. She had done it with such fluidity that he had not noticed until she menioned it. It amazed him again, and he knew she was right--it was real Mew dialogue, with exact pitch, reflection, and grammar.  
  
"You are quite talented," the pokemon commented, still a bit dazed. "I haven't been so closed to the human world that stories have not reached me on humans doing this--but they are quacks. You are the first real deal I've seen."  
  
Sharie shrugged. "As far as I know I am the only 'real deal' out there. I've met a few of these quacks myself, and often ended up denouncing them." A wry smile touched her lips as she recalled how angry she had made the pokemon 'translators'. "They were only in it for money, and let's just say they weren't happy when I proved them wrong. Usually they were travelling and would stop by the labs on their way through. Thought they'd amuse a little girl with their routine. Wrongo. I've only seen one other man who had even a little bit of merit--he can't do what I do exactly, but his heart is in it. That says something, I think."  
  
Mew looked at her questioningly.  
  
"It was only recently, too--a week or so ago. He's one of the few humans Madhea's seen besides myself. I met him by chance while wandering through the forest. His' name's Simon. He doesn't communicate word-for-word like I do, but his heart lets him understand and interpret far better than most humans ever will. He said there were a couple of times in his life that it really did happen--pokemon words came to him loud and clear. Maybe so, I'm not sure. He was sincere in his efforts, though, that was apparent."  
  
Sharie had to smile faintly at the memory. "I told him not to give up. Even though my ability was natural and I astounded him greatly, I told him I did not think it was impossible for him to make his own breakthrough. He has a rare soul and might be able to do it."  
  
"Do you think others could as well?" asked Mewtwo.  
  
"I don't know. Not the way I do it, certainly. He said I was bona fide proof that such humans do exist who can understand a pokemon's verbal speech, down to the word-for-word meanings. It's so rare that only a handful of humans have probably ever been able to do it on any level. But if humans could teach themselves how to speak pokemon, it might bridge the awful gap between us, and reach a new level of understanding. There's less risk of pokemon being hurt by humans, mentally or physically, if they are able to make their thoughts and feelings known--*clearly*."  
  
*If only,* thought Mewtwo, but kept the words to himself.  
  
"Is he determined to bridge such a gap?" asked Mew.  
  
"Yes. He told me that even if my ability, though it was real, was inborn and not taught to me in any way, the fact alone that I could do it gave him hope that he could, too. I hope he achieves his heart's desire. He's a good man. But right now, as far as I can tell, I am still the only human who can understand pokemon's language for real, down to the words, not just vague meanings or sensations."  
  
"You were born with a special gift in that area," said Mew.  
  
Sharie fought to keep from making a "yeah, right" sound. "One of my few powers I consider a gift. The mysteries of pokemon language are deep to humans, Mew. Humans have been struggling for ages to comprehend it fully."  
  
"Your eyes say you have a deeper understanding," said Mew daringly.  
  
"My own understanding can't be verbalized. It isn't something I can just...." Sharie searched for words and failed. "Just put on a piece of paper or even....voice aloud. I was born with it and it comes from deep inside. I did not have to be taught, but nor can I teach it to others, I think. So I can't explain it. People asking me how they could do it too would not get much help from me because I could not tell them exactly how, or if it is even really possible without being born to it."  
  
Sharie gave a stiff shrug, trying not to wince. "Besides, the few who did ask I would not even answer. I knew they were only in it for moneymaking schemes."  
  
"Wise choice," Mew commented. He himself knew of the deep abilities Sharie could not voice. He could not, either. Nobody could. If a Meowth was able to teach itself to speak the human language, then maybe the roles could be reversed. But then, except for an individual like Sharie, wasn't it strange that no human was able to do it the fluent way she could? Not without being born with such an ability? It was easy for her, true, but it was also extremely likely that she was the only one out there who could do it the way she did without using her psychic powers.  
  
Psychic humans, he knew, had an easier time of it, and trainers whose bonds they shared with their pokemon were really strong. They did not need fancy translation, for they understood it deep down. Psychic humans, too, had an easier way of understanding their pokemon if they were connected by a psychic link. They did not need to translate; their link let everything come through clearly without a language barrier. It did not break the pokemon's spoken language barrier, but their thoughts could be understood.  
  
Sharie's talent, however, was unique. She did not need the psychic powers she had to communicate. Her abilities to speak the pokemon langauge were already there. It was just a part of the mystery surrounding her.  
  
****  
  
Sharie stiffly, and with a great deal of pain, pushed back the covers to her pallet, dimly wondering how she had come to be covered up in the first place. She recalled her and Madhea collapsing on top of them and knowing nothing more.  
  
She could only reason one of the pokemon must have done it, and it was considerate of them to do so.   
  
She paused in near horror, though, when she saw her legs. Many areas were a mass of purple and black bruises, and she had some nasty scratches from where she had constantly been knocked flat by Madhea's psychic bursts last night.  
  
She did not have to look at her ribcage to know that it was probably covered in bruises, too. Madhea had sharp little elbows.  
  
Even Mewtwo was looking at her, startled. Most of the bruises had darkened on her overnight so they now looked worse than they did then.  
  
"I had no idea she was so strong," he whispered.  
  
"She's truffed me up before, although," Sharie cast a glance down at herself, "not this badly. It happens when I train her. But she's gotten a lot stronger recently, even before she took Clarity Lake's waters. She's not just trained in using her Special abilities, after all. I put in some physical combat training as well, although she's had no one to train against except me. Who knows when she'd need it."  
  
"She really knows more powers besides her psychic abilities, then?" he asked.  
  
"Where do you think that Ice Beam yesterday came from? That was Madhea. She was worried that Tyranitar was going to pummel you before I got to you."  
  
Mewtwo shook his head. "Giovanni did not bother with me. I have a few abilities other than my Psychic powers but nothing so fancy. If you saw as much as you say you did then you know why."  
  
"You're so poweful he figured your sheer psychic strength was enough," stated Sharie. "But that was before the discovery of the Dark type and a couple of others that could give you a run for your money. You're one of the strongest pokemon known, Mewtwo, but that Tyranitar was at peak level."  
  
Sharie scooted out of Madhea's way, careful not to disturb the sleeping youngster. She put her hands on the base of the fruit tree and attempted to push herself to her feet.  
  
Sharp stabbing pains through her ankles sent her straight back to the ground. She had to stifle a startled yelp of distress. The memory came through of her twisting her ankles while falling yesterday, struggling towards the cave enterance....  
  
Mewtwo caught her just before she would have been the victim of another painful thud. He gently eased her back to the grass, where her small fingers found her ankles and touched them.  
  
To her amazement, while they were black and blue, they weren't really swollen. Still, Sharie felt they had twisted more or less. She wondered how she had managed to drag Madhea to her pallet last night. She wasn't sure she wanted to remember.  
  
"Thank you....for catching me," she whispered painfully to Mewtwo. "Ah...."  
  
She gasped as pain shot through her body again.  
  
"You sure you won't heal yourself until Madhea awakens?" Mewtwo prodded.  
  
"I'll be okay. I don't want Madhea to see me like this; I can't imagine how it is going to add to her guilt. None of this was her fault, but she may still try to blame herself somehow. But right now it is more important Madhea gets the rest she needs."  
  
Sharie set her mouth against the pain as she scooted towards her pack nearby. She did not even have the extra energy at the moment to summon it telekenetically.  
  
Her pack began to glow a bluish color, and suddenly floated right beside her.  
  
Sharie's pale cheeks pinkened with surprise and she looked at Mewtwo, startled.  
  
"I'd advise you to stay still," he informed her. "The less you bounce around the better at the moment. If you can find something in there to ease your pain without bothering Madhea, then do it."  
  
Her cheeks brightened further. "Thank you," she whispered, embarassed. "I did not expect you to...."  
  
For some reason, he favored her with a small smile. "Madhea seems to be right, you know. You go all out for her, it seems, but you never accept any help in return. This was rather dramatically proved to me yesterday *and* just now."  
  
"I do not have the right to even ask you to do anything for my own benefit," she whispered, her cheeks coloring futher.. "Especially after you had been forced against your will so much in your life already. Nor did I ever want Madhea subjected to my will to do something that would please me at her expense, without regards to her feelings. It's wrong. Forcing a pokemon to leave the life they knew behind because I wanted one is wrong. I've never captured a pokemon to keep for that reason."  
  
"Doing so against their will is wrong," he answered. "But not if it is their choice to agree, or to help of their own free will. The gift of choice is a precious gift to have, Sharie, can you understand that?" he paused, looking into her widening eyes.  
  
"No, scratch that question. Yes, you understand. I can see it; you understand."  
  
She smiled wanely. "I used to think that all pokemon should never be subjected to trainers when I was younger," she said, her eyes clouding with memory for a moment. "Bad trainers force pokemon to their own will and do not think about their feelings. But there are many good trainers out there. Those who work with their pokemon to support each other. They don't see them as slaves, nor do those pokemon see them as their masters. Those trainers understand their pokemon are with them by choice, because they love and care for their pokemon so well It lets their hearts connect. Those often grow up to become the best pokemon masters."   
  
Her eyes drifted again. "That boy I saw in my visions--Ash Ketchum--he had his friends were three such trainers. I could only stand their silently amidst all the horror I saw on New Island--but somehow, I looked at him and saw a ray of light within his soul. It was that ray of light from him that touched your heart, Mewtwo. I saw it--and I felt it."  
  
****  
  
Sharie's quiet revalation left both Mewtwo and Mew stunned into silence.  
  
"Pika." Sharie felt a little paw on her leg. She looked down and saw Pikachu, staring at her with bright eyes.  
  
"You do remember," said Pikachu, awed. "You saw what we saw, what we could not help seeing, once we put our differences aside. It let us know not all humans are bad."  
  
"I certainly hope not," Sharie agreed. "But there are those who do not deserve to get within miles of a pokeball, much less a pokemon. If some pokemon are happiest being with their trainers and doing what Ash and his friends do, then so be it. I just don't feel it is right for *me* to do it. I help pokemon, heal them when they are sick and wounded, talk to them and comfort them--but never will one stay with me against their will. It is for their greater good for them to be where they are happiest."  
  
Sharie affectionately rubbed the little Pikachu's head before reaching for a bottle of Potion--it did not work as well on humans, but it would dull her pain until Madhea awoke (at least she hoped.).  
  
Pikachu crept into her lap after she took her mild dose, and Meowth came up to settle in beside her. The young Nidoqueen and Rhyhorn were careful to play quietly nearby so Madhea would not be disturbed.  
  
Mewtwo smiled to himself. He had come to a decision. He hoped it was not the most foolish decision of his life, but it just might solve many problems--if Sharie and Madhea were both willing to go along with it. He had stayed up late into the night thinking about it, weighing the risks, but now....it seemed like the only real solution to the worst of his problems.  
  
****  
  
Sharie had hardly moved for quite awhile. She had dragged out a book from her pack and was quietly reading it, being careful not to move and to set off her body in spasms of pain again. Pikachu was careful to sit on her legs above the area where Madhea had kicked Sharie so viciously. Mewoth did not press too hard against her sore body.  
  
Sharie was grateful for their silent support and the frienship they offered. They could have hated her so easily--she did not really know why they trusted her so much, despite who she was. She had no idea of knowing what the pokemon saw in her, or what Mew had seen, that made them, like most other pokemon, trust her so quickly.  
  
Sharie was started out of her reading by a small moan beside her. She looked down quickly to see Madhea's body twitch fractionally. A whisper of activity brushed across her mental sheilds--Madhea was waking up!  
  
Madhea moaned faintly again, a grimace of pain fluttering across her face. Her arm moved up reflexively to her forehead.  
  
"Oh...."   
  
It came out as a weary "Mew". Sharie, already digging in her pack again, knew Madhea probaby did not even have the energy to telepathically project her thoughts.  
  
"Easy, Madhea," she whispered, fumbling for the Full Restore.  
  
"....Sharie....?"  
  
"I'm here, Madhea. It's okay," Sharie whispered, aware of how badly Madhea's head had to ache.  
  
Madhea swallowed hard, and Sharie could tell she was trying not to whimper with agony.  
  
At her unspoken cue, the pokemon babies nearby wandered away. Madhea could not play just yet.  
  
"This Full Restore's really too strong for a young pokemon, Madhea," Sharie held the canister ready. "But I think in your case it is necessary. Just a little at a time, though, okay?"  
  
Madhea weakly nodded, not opening her eyes--it hurt too much.  
  
Sharie held the canister to Madhea's lips and only allowed Madhea to take a quick swallow at first.  
  
As soon as she swallowed, she breathed out, hissing silently against the pain.  
  
Within moments, however, the aches in her body began to dull.  
  
Madhea opened her eyes.  
  
"Where am I?" she asked.  
  
"Sh." Sharie held the canister to her lips again, giving her another small mouthful. "You'll be okay now, Madhea."  
  
Slowly Madhea felt her joints unstiffen. Sharie's hands gently pressed on her shoulders, urging her to be quiet for the moment.  
  
*I feel like I was run over by an Onix.*  
  
As the pain eased, Madhea suddenly became aware of her mental state. Broiling under the surface was more power than she had thought she posessed, and her control over it was stretched rather thinly.  
  
Dimly, it came to her, Sharie's mind in her own--Sharie was helping to sheild.  
  
A violent shock slapped her senses at once, the horrific memories of last night coursing back to her brain in a flash of terrifying clarity.  
  
Her amethyst eyes snapped open in horror. "Sharie!" she squeaked.  
  
"It's okay, Madhea," Sharie's hands pushed her back down. She had seen the sudden fear in Madhea's eyes. "You are okay now, your mind is under control."  
  
Madhea's body was still rigid, though she tried to stay still. Her heart was suddenly pounding as all of it, every nuance, replayed in her memory.  
  
Sharie, looking into her eyes, could see the emotions flashing in them.  
  
Madhea could never forget last night if she tried. She had thought she was going to die!  
  
But why hadn't she? With another flash, she remembered Sharie's psyche stabbing sharply into the fiery recesses of her mind. Such an action violated what they both believed in, but Madhea understood it was the only way Sharie had been able to get through to her....  
  
The forced focus. The melody. Sharie had somehow forced the monster within her under control....it all was tumbling back, teasing Madhea's dazed senses maddeningly. Trying to comprehend it was difficult, and it showed.  
  
When the tears filled Madhea's violet-purple eyes and began to trickle down her face, Sharie silently lifted her up--despite the pain in her arm--and hugged Madhea close to her heart.  
  
"Oh Sh-Sharie, I c-c-can't th-think!" she heard Madhea stammer against her neck. "I r-r-remember it.....all of it!"  
  
"So do I, Madhea. I was there, and I am here now. I would not leave you alone."  
  
"I was alone! For the longest time I felt nothing....then you...."  
  
Madhea tried to control her tears, but she couldn't. Her thoughts were whirling too fast and she was too confused. Only Sharie, holding her securely, gave her any stability at the moment. Madhea could only sit there, the tears trickling heedlessly down her cheeks.  
  
Sharie only held her until Madhea could regain some semblence of calm.  
  
Suddenly Madhea pulled back, her face soaked. Her tear-bright eyes looked into Sharie's, then down Sharie's arms and legs, taking in all the bruises and scratches. No one had to tell her it was she who had done that.  
  
The guilt only made her feel worse.  
  
"You saved me," she whispered. "I could have killed you!"  
  
"This?" Sharie glanced downwards. "Madhea, you could not help that."  
  
"I still almost killed both of us!"  
  
"Madhea, don't blame yourself, you could not help it." Sharie laid her fingers over Madhea's lips before she could utter another word. "Listen to me, my little friend. If given the choice, I'd do it all over again. My bruises are nothing compared to what you went through. I don't care. I'd still do it again and happily, too--just so you'd be safe. And you are. That is what matters the most to me."  
  
Madhea suddenly could not speak past the knot in her throat. Her tears did not stop, and she hugged Sharie again tightly. So tightly, in fact, that she felt Sharie's heartbeat against her chest--easily beating in time with her own. It was a soothing rhythm and gave Madhea some focus.  
  
Sharie smiled and sighed as Madhea began to calm down. She knew Madhea knew there was no use arguing about her actions--they knew each other too well in that area. Sharie'd happily do anything for Madhea if it led to her safety and happiness, and nothing could change that fact, even if Madhea knew what Sharie would do could get her killed. It was one thing she knew she could not convince Sharie to change.  
  
Mewtwo sensed this, as well. Sharie lived for Madhea's happiness and safety, and he doubted she would ever think twice about doing such a thing again, or something similar. Madhea had become the real purpose in Sharie's life, and what she was living for at the moment.  
  
If she left, all Sharie would have left when they parted was an achingly hollow emptiness--an emptiness he had felt many times.  
  
He swallowed. He knew now what to propose to both of them, if they accepted the idea.  
  
****  
  
Madhea's tears had stilled. Sharie handed her the rest of the Full Restore, and Madhea drained it. The last of the pain in her body left her, and she felt her mental sheilds awaken fully to protect her mind once more.  
  
"Think you can handle it all on your own now?" Sharie asked softly.  
  
Madhea nodded.  
  
Gently, Sharie withdrew the remenants of control she had left in Madhea's mind. Madhea no longer needed it.  
  
Madhea touched her forehead, her eyes meeting Sharie's. They shared a smile that spoke volumes, all they both wanted to say was sent the silent way, and their hearts understood.  
  
Madhea stood up, wiping the last of her tears away. Mewtwo came up to her silently and held out his hand, some unreadable emotion in his amethyst eyes.  
  
"I am glad you are all right," he sent as her smaller hand took his. "It would be hard for me now if you had left us."  
  
"No. I do not care to die just yet. None of my friends would like it." At the word "friends" she smiled her charming smile at him.  
  
He swallowed, feeling something in his heart twist. "You're a brave young woman, Madhea."  
  
Her cheeks reddened. "Thank you. So's Sharie. She saved me."  
  
"Yes. Both of you. Even her, I adm it that now."  
  
"We both knew that this could happen to me--just not so badly. Don't worry, Mewtwo--I don't plan to die. I want to live. I want to understand myself, and I can't do that if my soul is drifting in the beyond too soon."  
  
Again her mixture of maturity and childish charm startled him and warmed his heart at the same time. "Then we both will, Madhea, we both will," he said somberly. He turned to Sharie nearby. Now that she was no longer guarding Madhea's mind, she had healed herself at Clarity Lake and was standing nearby, quietly watching them.  
  
"I have come to a diecision," he said softly, his hand tightening in Madhea's. "A decision concerning you, Sharie, and Madhea."  
  
Sharie suddenly felt chilled, and she barely hid it from his avid gaze. She knew that the time was at hand, some decisions had to be made.  
  
****  
  
End part 9  
  
Well? Does she stay or does she leave? Find out in part 10. 


	10. New Choices

Disclaimer: Nintendo, Game Freak, and whoever else is involved owns the concept of the Pocket Monsters, otherwise known as Pokemon. Not Moi.  
  
Descriptions of League Entry rules, the various master rankings and degrees I portray here, etc. etc, are complete fabrications on my part. Well...it's based on what I've seen in the TV show, but I've added/changed a few things to suit this story. Sorry, Pokemon purists, but also--tough. I do know it is possible to gain League entry by taking a test--there was that one episode where Ash attempted to do so but failed, right?  
  
Part 10 of "Moonlight Shadows and Echoes Past". The rest is routine, you know. I am so sorry this took so long--a bad case of writer's block, tax season, and a hefty work schedule all turned my mind to mush. It wasn't that I lacked ideas....every time I sat in front of the desktop publisher, I had the ideas, but not the focus to put them down.  
  
Oh, well, now it's going away, finally. I've been wondering where to eventually take this story, to some big climatic adventure or simply a series of smaller stories as they occur to me. I'd had a notion of some big adventure, but while I had some pieces mentally well-played out, others essential to the plot eluded me. I've decided to opt for the smaller stories as they occur to me, but I do plan to work in the elements of what I had planned otherwise. This story isn't over yet.  
  
Oh, yeah, I wonder how many of my readers out there think that Mewtwo is fur-covered in the anime? Mew looks naked and one pokedex entry practically says so, but it's just the way they are *drawn*--I don't think Mewtwo is covered in fur, either. He just doesn't look it. I know this is a weird thing to bring up, but Mystic Mewtwo and I were discussing it recently (as you can gues from her wonderful story, Between Two Worlds--something I highly reccomend--she is pro-fur) and it left me scratching my head. I don't know which is true but in my version of events, Mewtwo and Mew are both hairless pokemon. Oh, well, we agreed--whichever makes us happy :D  
  
Of Moonlight Shadows and Echoes Past, chapter 10  
By ZeoViolet  
  
****  
  
Sharie had stiffened as she waited for Mewtwo's next words.  
  
Madhea's hand in his quivered for a moment, but she did not entirely let go. She wasn't sure what to do--it was too soon. She could not think.  
  
Mewtwo went on quietly. "Twenty-four hours ago I would never have believed any of this could have happened, especially the way it has. Sharie, you are someone that I *should* eternally hate, and yet you walked into my life bearing with you another like myself--someone I never dreamed could exist."  
  
His ameythst eyes looked downwards at Madhea. "I've never admitted to anyone before the hollowness I've always felt deep within," he revealed softly. "It was a pain I was sure would have consumed me one day. I've had my fellow clones but I've always been alone, with nobody I felt could truly understand me."  
  
Sharie did not say that while he had never admitted it, in her visions she sure had sensed it. So many emotions she had sensed.....and so many times, what he was feeling and what she was feeling at the same time had become as one, until she could no longer tell them apart.  
  
Mewtwo gripped Madhea's hand tighter, for once the depths of his soul showing in his eyes in this rare display of vulnerability. "For the first time, Madhea, that pain is gone. You made that pain leave. You're a sweet little girl and you've touched my heart as no other before has. I've never had a companion before and now I can't imagine you leaving again."  
  
"You want me to stay?" Whispered Madhea.  
  
"Yes, Madhea, I want you to remain with me."  
  
Madhea's eyes shimmered, and he could see a building storm in them, a nasty conflict of emotion.  
  
Madhea swallowed, hard. She had been touched very deeply by Mewtwo's words. She liked him, a lot. He could understand her almost as well as Sharie could. She realized she did not want to leave this place, or him, either.  
  
But Sharie!  
  
She could not leave Sharie!  
  
After what happened last night! No! She couldn't! Hang the consequences she had been warned about so much--She needed Sharie, and Sharie needed her! It was not fair--to have Sharie risk her life as she had done, then expect to walk away!  
  
But she also knew that Sharie was perfectly willing to let Madhea fill in the hole of Mewtwo's heart, even if it was at the expense of her own.  
  
*How can I do that to her! And yet, how can I do that to Mewtwo?*  
  
Mewtwo could see the struggling emotions in her eyes and, to his own surprise, picked her up himself.  
  
"We've both been pressing a truly unfair choice on you, Madhea," he said quietly. "And yet, the choice has always been yours. Sharie knows as well as I do that to deny you any choice would make both of us as bad as Giovanni, even if the consequences of your choice would be as far-flung as we've already talked about. Yet, Madhea, I do not wish to see you hurting anymore. I've come to see what binds you and Sharie so closely together, yet I do not want to be alone again."  
  
"I really care for you, Mewtwo, a lot," Madhea whispered painfully. Her small hands came up and touched his face. Shocked, his eyes widened, and for the first time ever that he could recall, he felt a burning pain in them as they shimmered. "You're so much like me, and I don't want to leave you."  
  
For the first time ever, his heart twisted in a new way. He could not help himself, his arms came around her and hugged her tightly to him.  
  
*Madhea....* was all that echoed in his mind.  
  
From where she stood, through the pain burning through her own heart, Sharie smiled to herself. That one action had solidified a new bond for Madhea, between her and Mewtwo.  
  
For Mewtwo, it was the first true bond his heart had ever known; one he could cherish forever..  
  
For Madhea, she could truly be with another like herself, and find herself accepted in ways she had never before dreamed, by others like herself.  
  
Sharie knew she had loved Madhea unconditionally, and with everything she had. Along with it had come the acceptance of everything Madhea was. She had, with the precious gift of love, given Madhea security and stability, something she herself and Mewtwo both sadly lacked, knowing Madhea would need them in a world that could see her as different. She had poured her whole heart and soul into raising Madhea, and she could not ask for a better reward than the love she had been given in return from the girl, even if, now, she must give her up so Madhea herself and others could be truly happy.  
  
She was human, the daughter of scientists. In the long run, she knew it was true--she would contaminate Madhea's life, and Mewtwo's. As long as she was around them, the danger existed of their discovery.  
  
Yet her heart would totally leave her when she left Madhea behind, with only memories to sustain her from then on. She would have served the one purpose in life she had ever been given, and what happened after that to her was beside the point.  
  
But for Madhea, it was all worth it. Sharie would do it again in a heartbeat.  
  
****  
  
Mewtwo finally pulled back from Madhea, his eyes still shimmering, but nothing fell. He had more to say.  
  
"Madhea, I know how torn your heart is. Mine is the same way, wanting you with me and knowing how your heart feels." He touched her chin. "Madhea, I would not see you seperated from the one who has loved you unconditionally from the moment she saved your life. I see that her leaving now would rip her heart to shreds, and yours."  
  
Sharie's breath caught, and Mewtwo met her violet gaze steadily with his own.  
  
"I hope I am not making the biggest mistake of my life in saying this," he said gravely. "Madhea belongs here, in my opinion, and yet, I have seen what she feels in her heart about you, Sharie. Not to mention that if last night were to ever be repeated, I could do nothing to help Madhea--but you can."  
  
"What are you saying?" whispered Sharie, not knowing what he was aiming at. Surely he'd not force Madhea to stay after all....  
  
"Understand that it is my wish for Madhea's happiness *and* my concern for her welfare that makes me voice this," he said gravely. "Madhea's so young. Seperating you two now would be more like ripping a baby from her sister or mother--it seems to me you two act like sisters, but you guard Madhea like a mother, Sharie." Mewtwo smiled faintly.  
  
Sharie only looked startled.  
  
"I am offering you both a third solution to this problem," he stated softly. "If it can be worked around. I hope I do not regret voicing this decision. Madhea," he looked into her eyes. "If you were to stay here, with me, would you like it if Sharie were to stay here with you, as well?"  
  
Madhea blinked in surprise, and Sharie's hands flew to her mouth.  
  
"You'd let Sharie stay?" squeaked Madhea in shock.  
  
"I've decided to place my trust in her, despite what my mind says," he said softly. "No child should be seperated from the one who has raised her and loved her all this time, not while she's so young. And should you have a psychic surge like that again, I could not help you. Only Sharie knows your heart and soul well enough, Madhea. If it is acceptable to you both, then yes, Sharie should stay here with you, at least until you are grown."  
  
Sharie's heart burned, unable to believe what she was hearing. Her? Stay?  
  
Mewtwo looked pointedly at her. "Sharie, would you be willing to stay, for Madhea's sake?" he asked.  
  
She swallowed. "What does Madhea think?"  
  
Her violet gaze wandered downwards to meet Madhea's. The shimmering look in Madhea's eyes told her--it would relieve Madhea of a great burden.  
  
"Sharie?" she whispered softly. "You would do this? You would actually stay--just for my sake?"  
  
Sharie felt her eyes brim over, though nothing fell.  
  
"Offhand, Madhea, my answer is yes," she said softly.  
  
A shadow crossed her eyes. "But Mewtwo--how far are you willing to take this? What do you expect of me--like must I cut myself off from the rest of the world? What about the rest of my family?"  
  
She saw his eyes widen, and knew, suddenly, he'd been wondering this himself.  
  
"How much do they know?" he asked, setting Madhea down but not releasing her hand.  
  
"About you? My family is pretty big, Mewtwo. The incident with you destroying New Island's lab created a family furor for awhile, both sides. Much of my family certainly knows of you, so you are not as anonymous as you'd like to be." She tried not to flinch at seeing him frown. "Yet, nobody has come looking for you, have they? Da and Uncle Daryn know the intimate details of what I've seen in my visions, and a couple of other family members have seen Madhea. They are all honorable and swore to keep your secrets. Is it your wish that I must cut myself off from my family completely?"  
  
"I've given this a lot of thought," he said quietly. "I do not wish to see them, that is true. However, it would be as cruel of me to cut you off completely from your family as if I were to seperate Madhea from you. I'd have learned no real lessons in my life if I did that. I just don't want them around here, nor do I want to see science articles on magazines on us. If you want to see them, go. You can return. But I do not want to lay eyes on them again."  
  
Impulsively, he reached out and touched her chin for a moment. "Despite what my mind says, my heart says you are a good person, Sharie," he said honestly. "I really do want to believe it, so I am giving you my trust. Nor do I really want to see you hurting any more than I do Madhea. If Madhea is to grow up she'd be happiest under your care, and yet here, she'd be safer than in the world at large, until she grows up. I am not cold, Sharie. I really want to like you as a friend. So, do you both accept?"  
  
Sharie ducked her head. It was more than she'd dreamed. For Madhea's sake he was willing to make such concessions. "If that is your proposal, and if Madhea wants it, then I'll gladly stay. I'd have my family's love to go back to--but no life I'd really want to lead. Here--I'll have Madhea."  
  
Madhea made a sudden sound, and Mewtwo understood, releasing her hand. She walked over to Sharie, looking up into her eyes.  
  
"You're staying?" she breathed, hardly daring to voice it.  
  
Sharie smiled sweetly at her and nodded. "Yup, kiddo, you're stuck with me."  
  
"She's staying!" Madhea shrieked in pure joy. The burden on her heart lifted as Sharie caught her up and whirled her around and around. When Sharie stopped, Madhea's cheeks were streaked with tears--but they were happy tears.  
  
If Sharie knew how to shed tears of her own, she would have, too. But since she had forgotten how, she only hugged Madhea tightly.  
  
"Pikachu!" Sharie was startled to feel a little yellow body hop up on her shoulder.  
  
"Chaa!!" Pikachu said happily, nuzzling her cheek happily. The red spots on his cheeks sparked momentarily.  
  
"Meowth!" Meowth came up and rubbed against her ankles, before sitting on her feet as if he owned her.  
  
"Of course," chuckled Mewtwo, "You had a few other advocates for the idea. These two suggested it in the first place. It seems you'd make all my fellow clones happier if you stayed."  
  
Sharie swallowed hard as she sank down to the ground. Madhea stayed securely in her lap. Pikachu remained on her shoulder, and Meowth had to fight with the baby Rhyhorn and Nidoqueen for space to curl up against her. The other pokemon clones simply stood back, chuckling to themselves, and voicing their approval.  
  
Sharie wanted more than ever to cry, now. But since she couldn't, she was content to simply be happy, for who would have ever guessed that among these pokemon, different from others like she herself was different, she would find a sense of wholeness that before, had always eluded her?  
  
****  
  
Mew floated in beside Mewtwo quietly.  
  
"Mewtwo, I'm proud of you," he said quietly. "I really think you did the right thing by both of them."  
  
"I just hope I do not come to regret it," said Mewtwo, very softly, so Mew could barely hear.  
  
"Were you honest in telling her you want to trust her and to try and be friends?" asked Mew. "I know you struggle with yourself and will likely do so for some time, despite all I've told you. The past can really bite."  
  
"Yes, I was honest with her. Even if I had not said so I think she would have known."  
  
"How would she not, when she's seen the inner depths of your heart many times?" said Mew. "I don't think she'll betray anybody. And, maybe here also--she can do some healing of her own."  
  
****  
  
Madhea could still not believe it as she sat curled in Sharie's lap. Sharie was staying! For the first time since coming here, Madhea felt at last free to breathe easy, glad she no longer had such a terrible choice to face. Sharie was staying, and they would be together as she grew up--and she would be with the only other one like herself, too--Mewtwo.  
  
Only one thing nagged at her now. She knew what deep concessions both Sharie and Mewtwo had made. In staying Sharie would not be simply going back home as if she had never left. She had just given up quite a lot all for her sake, Madhea realized. And willingly, without regrets. Madhea's eyes burned--they were willing to do so much, just for her, a clone and a copy. All of this was being done simply for her sake, her happiness.  
  
*Gods,* She thought to herself, *Does a shadow like myself deserve so much? Is it really worth it to them? What have I done to make it so?*  
  
*More than you'd ever know, Madhea,* she suddenly heard in her mind. Sharie had inadvertently sensed this confused thought and was responding. *You are priceless to me, Madhea. For you this is all worth it.*  
  
*Including giving up your family?*  
  
*I am not giving up my family. Da and Uncle Daryn will understand. But Madhea, you too are my family, and you are my purpose. Don't you see--doing this for you is worth all the joy that you have given me? And all the completeness you've already given Mewtwo's life?*  
  
Sharie's arms tightened around Madhea as she sent this silent message.  
  
Madhea smiled to herself. The old saying was true. The more love you give, the more you recieve. Sharie had loved her with all she was, and right now, Madhea was certain what she felt back had to be full and overflowing as a result.  
  
****  
  
*Beep beep ba beep*  
  
Mewtwo and Sharie both blinked in surprise.  
  
"What was that?" asked Mewtwo.  
  
"My pokegear," she answered. "I'm getting an e-mail. And since only my immediate family has my private address, it has to be urgent or they would not risk using it."  
  
Reluctantly she set Madhea down to reach for her pack. The pokemon crowded around and on her shifted a bit, but did not get up.  
  
"Pika." Pikachu spotted her pokegear in her pack first as she dug through it. "There it is."  
  
"Thank you," said Sharie, smiling and putting her hand affectionately on his head. "You're helpful."  
  
"Chaa!" he said happily.  
  
Sharie nudged a red cheek affectionately before turning her attention back to her pokegear.  
  
"Once a week I've sent e-mails with no message. I decided not to risk phone calls. I did not want to risk being overheard by Team Rocket, should they have re-discovered the lab that had Madhea in it and be hot on my trail," she said, flipping on the device. "I'd only been doing that to assure them I was still alive and all right. It's past time; they have to be worried about me to contact me. That or it's an emergency. No objection, Mewtwo?"  
  
"So long as it cannot be traced here."  
  
"I don't think so, anyways." Sharie's fingers busily began pressing buttons on the small device, yanking up the message her father had obviously sent.  
  
"It's a long one," she remarked. "They must've been really worried, or something's happened."  
  
She tucked her long hair out of the way as she rapidly read the message. Mewtwo was surprised to first see her ameythst eyes widen in shock, then to see her cheeks go pink.  
  
The pokegear fell out of her hands into her lap as her hands flew to her mouth, barely stifling an "oh!" sound.  
  
"What is it?" Madhea asked, alarmed.  
  
"Chu?" asked Pikachu.  
  
"I don't believe this! Part of this message is from Uncle Daryn! He and Aunt Alyssa have gotten back together!"  
  
Mewtwo looked slightly puzzled. Sharie's eyes met his.  
  
"After Amber died, you know how I told you Uncle Daryn became obsessed with bringing her back? It broke Aunt Alyssa's heart to see him try so hard and produce clone after clone that failed to thrive. She could not remain with him. They divorced."   
  
Sharie's eyes misted over as she recalled the bitter memories. "She grew even more depressed when Amber's lifeforce faded that second time." Her gaze lowered as she admitted something she'd always kept to herself. "I think she even held a certain amount of animosity towards you, Mewtwo, because you lived and Amber did not, even though she knew it was not your doing."  
  
"It--" Mewtwo began, but she cut him off.  
  
"It was only her deep grief speaking. Realistically we both knew it was not your fault. Do not get the wrong idea about Amber's mother, Mewtwo. She's one of the gentlest women I know, and the sweetest. She'd never hurt a caterpie, much less be violent."  
  
Sharie's brow furrowed. "Aunt Alyssa's one of the few other humans who's seen Madhea. When Madhea was four days old, and I had just gotten her fever broken, I came to the town where she had moved to. My Uncle Sanjan and Aunt Joy--one of the Nurse Joy clan--lived there also. I stocked up on supplies and gave Madhea a checkup. The adults saw Madhea then. In fact, Madhea performed her first miracle then."  
  
A small smile tugged at Sharie's lips. Inadvertently, she reached for Madhea and hugged her close. The young pokemon went willingly.  
  
"Madhea, do you remember that woman holding you and starting to cry?"  
  
Madhea nodded. "I did not understand why at the time. She was sad. I did not want her to feel that way."  
  
Sharie continued to smile softly, remembering. "You touched her heart, Madhea, very deeply. You struck me to the very core, watching what your babyish innocence all inadvertenly did to my Aunt. You caused her to unload all that grief she'd been carrying over Amber. She looked into your eyes and whispered "She's precious. I understand now...."  
  
Sharie touched Madhea's head gently. "It's my belief that in that instant, she realized that the gulf between humanity and pokemon is not that great. Your eyes are idencial to Amber's, Madhea. You called to Aunt Alyssa's heart the way Amber had done, even though you are a pokemon, and a Mewtwo, a pokemon that held such bitter memories for her. I was amazed at how much that one simple thought lifted such a nasty burden from her heart. She again had me promise to guard you and keep you safe and happy, Madhea, even though I had already made that promise to myself."  
  
Sharie picked up her pokegear again. "But never did I once think that the effect you had on her went so deeply she'd completely forgive Uncle Daryn and go back to him. They both loved each other so much and it tore both apart for her to leave him.....but she could not deal with the grief. Now, for her, and thanks to you, she's at last able to go on."  
  
"I'm glad," said Madhea innocently. "I did not want her sad. She seemed a nice woman--even then I could tell that much."  
  
Sharie smiled. Madhea might not know it consciously, but her heart understood the deep implications of what she had accomplished as an innocent newborn. Sharie suspected that only when Madhea was older, and she fell in love herself, would her conscious mind truly grasp the implications of what the deeper depths of her pokemon heart already knew.  
  
*Little one, I do hope that someday you do find somebody and fall in love. I am sure you could make some lucky pokemon very happy.*  
  
Sharie's eyes were bright as she turned back to the e-mail. "They re-affirmed their vows a month ago. I was right; my family has been very worried about me, and when I was late they decided to take a risk and e-mail me. I think it's time I responded. Mewtwo, do you have any objections?"  
  
Mewtwo started. He had been so surprised by the tale Sharie had told he had been standing there, motionless.  
  
"So long as it cannot be traced," he repeated his earlier words. "I do not care for unwelcome visitors here."  
  
"I must tell them of my decision to stay," she said. "Pokegears are difficult to trace because of how much trainers move around."  
  
"Are you a licensed trainer?" he asked.  
  
Sharie's cheeks redded. "I had to be, otherwise I could not have interacted with lab pokemon as I've done much of my life. I'm one of the few who was granted a license before her tenth birthday. Da pulled some strings and got me in early, calling in a lot of favors and getting them to bend the rules. They agreed to do so eventually, and I felt too guilty because my Da had worked so hard to get them to agree for me to back out. The League agreed to give me a license and even a shot at League entry....only IF I passed some of their most rigorous testing. That might have sounded mean of them to do that to a kid, but they were reluctant to bend so many rules."  
  
Madhea pointed to a small badge on Sharie's sleeve Mewtwo had never noticed before. "There's proof of Sharie's skill," she announced, much to Sharie's embarassment. "That's an A- master's ranking."  
  
"Madhea. Broadcast the news to the whole world."  
  
"But didn't you get that when you were only seven?"  
  
"It was not my idea. I only wanted the partially valid license they offered me so I could legally interact with the lab pokemon. Da's the one who pressed them so hard and called in so many favors and pulled some strings. He told them I knew enough."  
  
"Didn't you?" prodded Madhea.  
  
"Kiddo, if I can talk to pokemon, then surely I am privy to secrets about them few if any others know." Sharie shrugged noncommitally. "There's a lot of things I haven't even told Da. Things scientists don't need to know right now." Sharie's cheeks flushed.  
  
"The League knew I was psychic; so they did a double-blind test to minimize any chance I might read minds and cheat. The guy that came and gave me the test did not know the questions or answers himself. The League wasn't kidding about their reluctance to bend the rules, because they filled it with the hardest questions they had on file. I knew every one."  
  
Sharie paused. The pokemon around her were watching her with interested faces.  
  
She shrugged. "Trust me, there's many pokemon mysteries out there I have no clue of. What they did test me on I already knew because other humans already discovered it. They also tested my battling ability. It was one of the few times before I was ten I participated in a pokemon battle. There's no rule against psychically speaking with the pokemon I chose. Again, neither I nor the guy who tested me knew what pokemon were in the pokeballs."  
  
"Then how on earth did you win?" asked Meowth. "Must have been a lot of split-second decisions."  
  
"Well, yes, sort of. That is part of it, thinking on your feet. But an important part for me is not telling a pokemon what to do. Only bad trainers do that. I tend to get so in sync with pokemon that our minds practically blend. I don't tell them what to do. I can tell what we both know they are capeable of, maybe even some things they weren't sure they were capeable of doing themselves, and together, we decide the best attack or defense possible for any given situation. I never make it my decision alone. It is what the pokemon and I decide--together--that determines the next move."  
  
"Is it all done psychically?" asked Pikachu.  
  
"Some, but not always. If you are good enough friends you just tend to.....know. Even a fairly weak pokemon can overcome a much more powerful one if you simply know. That's how I won that battle when I was seven. Many pokemon have secrets contained within them that would astonish trainers of today.....but I've said enough. I do not care to sound like I am bragging. I don't make a habit of trainer battles. I often trained the lab pokemon, but I've never battled without their permission first, only if they truly wanted to do it."  
  
A frown crossed her face. "Giovanni is said to have a full A ranking--extremely difficult to achieve. Only a couple hundred worldwide are known to have it." Sharie did not let on how rare it was to have a Master's ranking of ANY sort, much less an A ranking. "Only a handful have the A+ ranking. The plus fades out halfway across in those badges. It symbolizes that there is always room for improvement, more knowledge to gain. A trainer usually can't even begin to compete for ANY master's ranking, from D- thru A+, until he beats all the rounds at places like the Indigo Plateau or the Jhoto Championships, or through rigorous testing like I had to do, and somehow gains entry into the League. Newbie league members still aren't graded with ANY master's ranking until the prove themselves in battle. As they go along, they can re-challenge to raise their ranking."  
  
Sharie's hand touched her badge again. "With my ranking I have jurisdiction to report trainers whom I see abusing pokemon. It is not something I exercise, and I must follow any accusations with sound proof, but lately I've been so tempted to challenge Giovanni.....however, since his ranking is slightly higher than mine, AND he is the leader of a crime organization, I'd have too tough of a time trying to prove it, even to those at pokemon HQ. I haven't challenged my own ranking since I got it. Da hasn't in years himself. He's content with his grade-B Master's."  
  
"So why don't you go back and re-challenge? Surely after so long, you're even better," said Pikachu.  
  
"I don't want to. I proved my point way back then of what I could do and I have no desire to get involved in such things. The tester told me the only reason I wasn't granted a full A ranking was because of my age. They were going to start me out at D, but I beat him so thoroughly they changed their minds. But they had to draw the line somewhere because of my age, so I got the A-. Plus I had to keep the membership in general a secret until I was ten. They did not want word getting out about how much the rules had been bent. It was far more than I ever asked for or wanted, but at least I am not questioned by others when I interact with pokemon."  
  
Mewtwo kept his thoughts to himself. If Sharie was right, then it really was no surprise Madhea was able to do special attacks of so many different types as Sharie claimed she could do. Sharie would've known how to train her.  
  
She could've made an easy career in the League, he mused. She had the skills, certainly.  
  
But not the interest. Sharie could not have cared less for her ranking. She had the knowledge but lacked the want or the drive to put it into use in any League competition. She had little self-respect and no care for glory. She knew what it was to be different from everybody else, having to walk in the shadows of the moonlight, and could see into a pokemon's heart--she just could not make herself subject a pokemon to battles for her own gain, much less capture them and forcibly take them from their homes--and possibly, families!--in the wild, so she had professed.   
  
Somehow, Mewtwo doubted that the thoughts of such things like a League career or a Trainer career had ever occured to Sharie. She had cast herself down into the shadows much too early for that, figuring that even had she wanted to, she had no destiny there, and was not even worthy had she wanted it--which she hadn't.  
  
She had floundered in her shadow realm the same way he had done all *his* life, having no sense of a purpose whatsoever, no inkling of why she had been born with, or how to really use her gifts--until she had met Madhea.  
  
From that point, if she was telling the truth, Mewtwo mused, Madhea had become her destiny, to save her and pass her on to him so she got the freedom she deserved.  
  
Sharie herself knew that Madhea's well-being had not just become her destiny--it had awakened her heart from the darkness in which she had floundered for so long. For the first time ever--except for Amber--her heart had dared to love in such a way, a feeling she was helpless to deny or fight.  
  
Now that she was to remain to see Madhea grow up, her dream, the only one she had ever allowd herself, she figured, and her destiny, would be fulfilled.  
  
****  
  
Sharie had been quiet for some time. Rapidly, but absently, her fingers flew over the tiny keys of the pokegear, letting her father know she was all right, expressing her happiness and well-wishes to her uncle Daryn and Aunt Alyssa, and explaining what her next actions would be. She knew they would understand. What destiny she felt she did have she was determined to see through. If she felt raising Madhea to be her best was her destiny--then so be it.  
  
After awhile Madhea came up to Mewtwo again, tugging on his hand until he looked downwards. His ameythst eyes met hers, and he smiled, one of his rare, true smiles.  
  
"Yes?" he asked simply.  
  
He had to smile at the happiness and peace in her eyes. For her, he understood, this was all well worth it.  
  
"I want to thank you," she said quietly. "I never did thank you."  
  
"For what?" he asked.  
  
"For letting Sharie stay, of course. I did not dream that you would allow it."  
  
"In the end, Madhea, it seemed the most logical course of action, and it would relieve you of a nasty burden," he assured her, squeezing her hand gently. It was an evasive answer, but it felt appropriate.  
  
"I know you still struggle over Sharie's true nature," Madhea said quietly. "I can see it. I can only assure you of who she is. Your own mind must come into sync with what your heart says--that nobody but you can do. But in the meantime--thank you. I am really happy to be here--and have you as a friend."  
  
Mewtwo felt a flush of warmth flood his heart. The sincerity in her eyes touched him deeply.  
  
Madhea smiled back, then her cheeks reddened slightly. Her body glowed blue as she telekenetically lifted herself off the ground until her head was level with his. Shyly, and quickly, she leaned over and brushed an innocent kiss across his cheek.  
  
"Thank you," she whispered again, then moved quickly away. Mewtwo could only stare after her, unable to move.  
  
Her action had stunned him speechless and immoble, for that innocent child's kiss of affection had been the first show of affection anybody had ever shown him before--ever.  
  
*Madhea--you are truly special,* were the only thoughts to echo in his mind, where only he could hear them.  
  
****  
  
Awww.....isn't that sweet? Part 11 will be along sooner or later, I promise. 


	11. Directions

Disclaimer: Nintendo, Game Freak, and all the other bigwigs with names I can't begin to pronounce (no offense to them, but for me, it's true) own Pokemon, not me.  
  
Chapter 11 in the "Of Moonlight Shadows and Echoes Past" storyline. Enjoy. As always, comments are welcome and suggestions encouraged.  
  
Of Moonlight Shadows and Echoes Past, chapter 11  
By ZeoViolet  
  
****  
  
Sharie's hands stilled in surprise from her pokegear, having witnessed Madhea's shy, innocent kiss on the cheek she gave Mewtwo.  
  
Madhea was blushing, and moved away quickly, embarassed but smiling.   
  
Mewtwo just stood there, stunned. His mouth opened slightly, and his hand came up and touched his face in sheer amazement.  
  
Then, his eyes shimmered, glowing as brightly as Madhea's did in moonlight. A faint blush crept across his own cheeks, and a small smile played across his lips as he stared off into space.  
  
*My goodness,* Sharie thought to herself. *If that isn't one of the sweetest.....?*  
  
It was plain that Madhea's simple, innocent gesture had speared Mewtwo straight to the most vulnerable part of him, a place he'd always closely guarded from outsiders--his heart. The feeling that someone genuinely cared about him. Madhea, innocently enough, was doing the seemingly impossible.  
  
Sharie ducked her eyes back to her email, smiling to herself. She had indeed been right all along. Mewtwo had needed someone so badly; a true friend, a companion. Little Madhea, child though she was, would be the bright rays of moonlight his shadowed world needed. They could truly understand each other, and the inner stability and security that were now a permanent part of Madhea could only benefit them both, now, Sharie mused. They could both be happy as Madhea grew up.  
  
And after she was grown up?  
  
Sharie paused again, the question making her think.  
  
It wasn't impossible, after all. Sharie hadn't thought about it much before, but no reason why not, once Madhea was grown up, she and Mewtwo would take the sweet, innocent bond they had now formed to.....well, to new depths. It was entirely possible that one day, their platonic caring for each other would someday change, and they'd truly fall in love.  
  
Sharie smiled to herself. It was a sweet thought. Madhea was certainly too little now for the thought to even run across either of their minds, but in the long run, it really would not be a great length of time. Mewtwo even, technically, was not very old himself yet--almost two years, if you counted the day he broke out of his tube as his birthday--, though he was fully mature. Once Madhea was grown it would not make much difference.  
  
Of course, Sharie mused, it was just as likely to never happen. It was easily as possible they could find love with another pokemon entirely, or not at all.  
  
It was likely that Mewtwo considered himself unworthy of even *attempting* to fall in love with another. Since he could first think he had known he was the only one of his kind, and a shadow, a product of science--there were no others. He had been more or less resigned to the fact that when he did pass on, his kind, composed of it's sole member, would be as extinct as before it had arisen in some scientsts' labratory.  
  
Besides, he saw himself as unnatural. Nature had not created him--science did. What right would a shadow, a reflection of the real thing, have in pressing himself (lovesick or not) on some other pokemon?  
  
Sharie did not know how to have him come to the understanding she had--life was life once it existed. Regardless of however means *any* life is created, that life has a spirit, a soul. There was no way a soul could be stamped as any different, or any less worthy, just because it inhabited a body that was created in more unusual ways than the standard.  
  
But to Mewtwo, whether he had a soul or not made little difference in the world around him, a world that would see him and his fellow clones as unnatural, forever condemned to the moonshadow path. They were reflections in this world, and cast to walk in moonlight, reflections as moonlight was sunlight's reflections.  
  
Sharie had such views about herself because, as someone so different and unnatural to others, even other psychics, surely, she was forever destined to remain hidden in the shadows, an outcast.  
  
Whatever they might think of themselves, the world had it's own standards, dreamed up by those who saw themselves as "normal". How could copies, mirror reflections, ever be "normal" in the eyes of others?  
  
And, Sharie thought bitterly, how could individuals with freakish powers, abilities, and senses more pokemon than human, more at home in their world than the human world, ever be considered anything but an outcast, either?  
  
If the world were ever to change those views, it would have to be because they themselves would set their own standards, and abolish the word "normal" from their language.  
  
If the world was ever to coexist peacefully, there could not be any such thing as "normal".  
  
Only then could they all walk freely in the sunlight. It was hypothetically speaking. Sharie, unlike Mewtwo pushing himself away from such things, had taught Madhea to love sunlight, and to thrive in and appreciate the life and beauty around her even as she walked the moonshadow path, but the future of the clones would be forever in these shadows unless the standards could be changed, not only by those who saw them, but by those who felt it's sting.  
  
To Sharie, Mewtwo wasn't normal--he was a wonderful individual, regarless of his creation. Underneath all his pain and bitterness he had a caring heart and a generous spirit.  
  
No mirror image or shadow could feel such things.  
  
And even shadows always had companions. Real shadows had those whose light they were reflected from.  
  
Mewtwo was alive. He was no longer a shadow with no companion. Madhea existed now, too.  
  
If they grew up, they could be equals--strong souls capable of walking fully in sunlight as they did moonlight.  
  
Indeed, it might not happen. Still, such an occurence between the two would be really sweet--wouldn't it?  
  
****  
  
Sharie had no sooner finished hitting the "send" button on her pokegear when a sick feeling came into her stomach, a vague sense of nausea. It crept up on her more quickly than it usually did.  
  
The pokegear dropped from her hands to the grass. Almost instantly, she had forgotten she was holding it.  
  
The sharp pain that had speared across her temples would not *let* her recall it.  
  
It was Pikachu who first noticed Sharie dropping the pokegear, almost automatically curling her knees to her chest and burying her face in her arms.  
  
"Pika? Pikachu?" Pikachu came up and touched her, then pulled back sharply as Sharie's body began to glow a shade of deep azure. "Pika-pikachupika!"  
  
"No, Pikachu," Sharie whispered faintly, suddenly only dimly aware of him through the haze of pain firing along her senses. "Do not touch me. It is best--oh!" she gasped in pain. "It is best--if you do not."  
  
Dimly she heard the sound of small feet running, and vaguely sensed Madhea's approach. "Sharie? Oh, Sharie! What--"  
  
"I'm okay," Sharie gasped sharply in pain. "It's just--a power surge. Don't worry, Madhea."  
  
"Sharie?" she heard Mewtwo's concerned psychic voice. "Are you all right?"  
  
She could sense his concerned approach, and shrank away from his Psychic signature. It hurt!  
  
"Please, don't!" she cried aloud, unable to stand it. Her senses were already still too edgy from last night's bout with Madhea. "I'm sorry, Mewtwo, but please--stay away!"  
  
"Sharie? What's *wrong*!" Pleaded Madhea, torn between fear for her friend and the shocked look on Mewtwo's face.  
  
"I'm sorry, Mewtwo--I, ca-cannot help this!" Sharie quivered. "Madhea, don't get close. I--I am afraid of hurting you. Psychic surge."  
  
"Oh, no!" Madhea went dead white. "Oh, please, no!"  
  
Sharie raised her eyes to meet theirs, but they were glowing the same blue Mewtwo's did when he used his powers as she struggled for control.  
  
"Do not worry," she said softly, gasping as a spasm of pain racked her body.  
  
"No!" she cried suddenly, holding up a hand as Madhea, unable to stand it, ventured a step towards her.  
  
"But Sharie--"  
  
"I am not in full control now, Madhea!" She said, gritting her teeth against the fiery assault to her senses. "It has been--awhile since I've had--" she gasped again, "one of these. I knew the waters of....Cl-clarity Lake would ev-eventually....set me off as they did you. It is why," she gasped for breath before continuing, "it is why I waited until you were...back in full control before I healed myself. Don't come any closer, please!" Utter torment entered Sharie's voice as she said this. "Not only could I hurt you accidentally, the sheild protecting your mind, while it is solid...and....and stable now, is also still as fragile as porcelain. It must grow stronger! Right now....right now I could inadvertently shatter your own control!"  
  
A faint smile passed her lips, more like a grimace. "I'd sooner die than let that happen."  
  
"How long has it been?" asked Mew gently.  
  
"Madhea was only a few weeks old, and asleep, the last time," Sharie rasped. "She had not yet had her own first surge. This is the--"Sharie cried out and clutched her side.  
  
"No, Madhea, stay away!" she commanded. Mewtwo had to grasp Madhea's shoulders to keep her from disobeying Sharie's command.  
  
"I'm sorry, little one, you cannot help me with this," she said softly. "This is the first tme you've seen this happen to me. I've had to endure it many times. I will be okay--I promise."  
  
"Are you sure?" asked Madhea, her whole little body quivering. Gently Mewtwo picked her up, unsure of how to handle children but wanting to comfort her somehow. Madhea let him, gratefully leaning against him.  
  
"I am positive, Madhea. I'll be okay in a little while--you'll see."  
  
Mew spoke up then. "Getting too close to her with psychic signatures as we have will only torture her," he said quietly. "Mewtwo, Sharie, I am sure, did not mean to snap at you. If my guess is right, then Sharie's had nobody but herself to help her with her surges for years."  
  
Vaguely, Sharie nodded her head.  
  
"Nothing can be done?" asked Mewtwo, reluctantly setting a shaking Madhea down.  
  
"I'm afraid not. Had someone been training her from the beginning, as she's done with Madhea, then maybe. But since it is not the case--you know how strong her defenses are. None of us could get in, and in this case, not even you, Madhea. Her desire to protect you would not let even your essence in. Her defensive barriers are different than the barriers that hold her powers intact and let her manipulate them. There is nothing we can do, but my goodness, I hate to see her suffer."  
  
"So do I." Madhea tried not to whimper, but it was all she could do to keep from running to Sharie to help her, in any way possible. But she understood that doing so would only cause Sharie more pain.  
  
*This isn't fair! You almost killed yourself helping me--and yet even Mew says it's impossible for me to help you in return!*  
  
Her small hand, held firmly by Mewtwo, jerked spasmodically, but she managed to remain still.  
  
Mewtwo looked down at her, his amethyst eyes full of concern for her. Gently he urged her away.  
  
"She'll be okay," he encouraged. "From what I've seen of her, Sharie's made of some tough stuff. Just give her time, Madhea, give her time."  
  
****  
  
Madhea turned and burid her face against Mewtwo, unable to watch. Sharie had helped her though this so many times. She had almost given her life last night to help her then. Watching her now and being unable to do nothing was utter torture.  
  
She knew her reaction was too extreme. Sharie had told her of this, many times. It *had* been awhile, she had said only yesterday. She had even delayed taking Clarity Lake's healing waters earlier today because she had been mentally shelding Madhea so she could sleep. Taking the waters too soon could not have only put her control in trouble, Madhea realized, but her own as well.  
  
Still, even if this was nowhere near the torture she herself had gone through last night, it was agony to her emotions to just stand by while Sharie suffered yet again.  
  
Life for some individuals just wan't fair, no matter how good-hearted they were.  
  
****  
  
It was awhile before the icy blue glow left Sharie's body. Madhea looked up quickly to see sweat break out over Sharie's forehead as the glow faded. Seconds later Sharie slumped quietly to the ground in a dead faint.  
  
"Sharie!" Madhea shrieked, letting go of her ironclad control. She jerked away from Mewtwo's grasp and ran--no, *flew*--across to Sharie's side.  
  
"Sharie?" she asked in a small tone, touching Sharie's arms. The human girl's skin was very clammy and cold, as if she had a fever and chills at the same time. Her chest barely rose and fell, as if her life was nearly absent, and her heartbeat was thready, almost nonexistent.  
  
Sharie did not respond.  
  
Mew came up beside Madhea and quickly touched Sharie's forehead for himself. He placed his other hand at her neck to feel her pulse and noticed her shallow breaths for himself. A rather knowing look crossed his face.  
  
"It's over," he said quietly to the frazzled girl. "She'll be okay now."  
  
"Okay?" Madhea pointed out indignantly. "She's fainted! And her breathing and heartbeat--"  
  
"She's exhausted. Snapping her control back over her powers and shutting them off so abruptly, and after her powers have been strained the last day or so, I'm not surprised. But I think she'll be fine. She'll come to sooner or later. I can already feel her heartbeat beginning to pick up a little bit of speed."  
  
At seeing the distressed look in Madhea's eyes, Mew reached out and touched her forehead reassuringly. "I urge you not to worry, young one. Sharie, I can tell, has strived hard not to make you worry about her as you grew up. I doubt she'd want you to start now when there is nothing to really worry over. Okay?"  
  
Weakly Madhea nodded. "Okay."  
  
As if on cue, Sharie gave a faint moan and started to stir.  
  
****  
  
A deep breath suddenly issued from her chest, from where before it had been scarcely rising and falling. Her chest fell again, and she began breathing in a normal pattern, as if coming out of some deep comatose state. A flush of warmth seemed to issue over her waxy-gray skin, replacing the deadly-looking hue with a pale pallor that wasn't normal, but much better than before.  
  
A few moments later, she moaned again and her violet-purple eyes began to blink open.  
  
Sharie's head hurt. Not with the spiraling, fiery sensations from before, but from a whanging headache borne of exhaustion. Her vision was blurred, and it took a few seconds for her to register that someone was keeling over her. The first thing that came in clear was a pair of ameythst eyes identical to her own, full of both worry and relief, watching her intently.  
  
Madhea.  
  
Sharie's lips quirked in recognition. "Hi there."  
  
The words were a bit ragged, spoken through a dry throat and cracked lips. Sharie swallowed painfully.  
  
"Sharie?" Mahea sounded really relieved. "Are you okay?"  
  
"Yes, I'm okay." Sharie bit back the urge to say, instead, for someone to get the Onix off her chest.  
  
"Oh, I dunno, how big an Onix?" Mahea said through a smile. "Sorry, Sharie, I accidentally heard that."  
  
"You haven't been poking around in my head now, have you, kiddo?" Sharie asked weakly, though an even weaker laugh, as she struggled to sit up.  
  
"Who, me?" asked Madhea innocently. "Can I touch you now or will I still get zapped?"  
  
"It's safe, kiddo." Sharie held out her arms and Madhea swiftly moved into them.  
  
Mew giggled into his hands in a typical Mew fashion. He understood the joke--Sharie's mental sheilds simply weren't what they usually were at the moment. Madhea knew she was only teasing to make her feel better.  
  
Sharie hugged Madhea tightly, sensing the little girl's heart beating in time with her own. It was reassuring to both of them.  
  
"I'm sorry I had to spring that on you, Madhea," Sharie apologized. "It's been a little longer than usual between bouts for me, and the last time it happened you were asleep and did not have your powers developed yet. I am sorry for scaring you so badly, even though I did try to prepare you. It is one area we aren't that different."  
  
"Prepare, nothing," stated Madhea firmly, backing up until their eyes met. "You tried, and as many times as I've had problems I should have known. But I still was caught totally off guard."  
  
"Well, that's fate for you," Sharie said reassuringly, giving Madhea a firm squeeze of affection before gently letting go. "Never what you expect."  
  
"Pika."  
  
Sharie and Madhea stopped their conversation as Pikachu suddenly came scampering up on his hind legs, an apple in each hand. To Sharie's surprise, before she could react, Pikachu pushed a shiny red apple into one of her hands and another into Madhea's, before letting loose a flood of Pikachu syllables.  
  
Sharie's eyes widened in surprise.  
  
"Well, no, I suppose we haven't," she answered slowly. "Clarity Lake's waters removed any feeling of hunger Madhea or I might have had yesterday or today."  
  
"Individuals new to the effects of the lake seem to experience that," said Mewtwo, watching this with a small smile. "Or of they haven't touched the water in a while. The water will refresh and sustain them in the place of food for a day or so, until they rediscover their appetites."  
  
"Interesting. Thank you, Pikachu." Sharie's comment was followed by Madhea.  
  
Truthfully, only now was either of them starting to feel hunger pangs in their stomachs. Sharie leaned back against a nearby tree where Pikachu scrambled into her lap. Meowth curled on her feet as if claiming her as his property.  
  
"Imps," she said affectionately to both, rubbing their heads with her hand.  
  
"Chaa."  
  
"Meowth!"  
  
She smiled at them before biting into her apple for the first time. She chewed for a moment, then stopped in utter surprise, staring at the apple for several seconds before swallowing.  
  
"Wow," she breathed.  
  
The apple was probably the most delicious piece of fruit she'd ever eaten. The skin was thick and a rich red, and the inside was unusually tart and juicy, the juice rich with the sustaining waters of Clarity Lake, which the tree that grew it surely thrived on. No wonder it tasted like it did!  
  
****  
  
Sharie was about halfway through her apple--amazing how she ate so slowly, Mewtwo mused to himself--when her pokegear gave it's telltale sound of incoming e-mail.  
  
Sharie almost choked in surprise, before she swallowed quickly.  
  
"So soon?" she gasped in astonishment. "They must have been glued to the computer!"  
  
She laid the apple aside, forgetting about it in an instant as she reached for the discarded pokegear. She hit a few buttons and up popped the longest e-mail she'd surely ever gotten.  
  
As she began to read, Sharie's pale cheeks promptly began to turn pink.  
  
"Well, in short," she said after a few moments. "They wish us well, including you, Mewtwo."  
  
Mewtwo made a sound that was the equivalent of a 'hhhmph!' Sharie, though she was not surprised by this, chose to ignore it.  
  
"Once they got over their surprise at knowing what's been happening, they accepted my choice," she went on. "Just as long as they are assured you won't hurt me, Mewtwo. They are glad Clarity Lake helped Madhea, and they are swearing up and down to never breathe a word to anybody."  
  
That certainly did not sound like the Triesta brothers Mewtwo clearly remembered, and with painful accuracy. Sharie had said they were not what they looked like, but truthfully--they could not be *that* different, could they?  
  
Sharie continued reading for several more moments to herself. It was quite sudden when the pink left her cheeks again, and her face promptly went to a color worse than her pale pallor from earlier.  
  
"Oh, no," she breathed, and Mewtwo sensed her heart rate soar in almost sheer panic. "Oh, Aunt Alyssa...."  
  
Sharie suddenly dropped the pokegear and buried her face in her hands.  
  
"Aunt Alyssa," she moaned softly. "Aunt Alyssa!"  
  
Mewtwo looked startled.  
  
"Sharie? What is it?" asked Madhea, not having seen Sharie react that way before.  
  
Sharie didn't move and didn't answer.  
  
Madhea reached over and picked up the dropped pokegear, even though she did not have Sharie's permission to read her private things. Her eyes fell on the words displayed on the small screen, and they widened.   
  
"I think this explains it," Madhea said quietly. "I *think*, since I don't know everything that happened back then...."  
  
Sharie lifted her head at Madhea's words, her eyes glittering but no tears falling. Now more than ever she wanted to cry, but she couldn't.  
  
Gently she removed the pokegear from Madhea's fingers. Madhea gave her an apologetic look, but Sharie's forgiving glance told her it was okay.  
  
"I don't believe this," Sharie whispered. "After all this time, and after all she's gone through....."  
  
"What is it?" asked Mewtwo, unable to help himself. The look in her eyes told him that it was far deeper than he'd have considered, or Sharie would not be so upset.  
  
Sharie's voice went dry and emotionless. "After Amber was born, they told her she could have no more children. Her labor had been too difficult. It was even harder on them after Amber's death and even worse when they divorced.....but....Oh, gods....not only has she remarried my Uncle Daryn, Mewtwo, Aunt Alyssa is going to have another baby. She told me here, in her section of the e-mail, that she just found out today and she just knows it will be a girl, a girl who will be a lot like the Amber she lost...."  
  
****  
  
The silence permeated the area for several seconds before Mew, rather innocently, uttered, "Is that so bad?"  
  
"Oh, no, no!" Sharie, shocked by the question, shook her head vigorously. "It's not that. Losing Amber traumatized both my aunt and uncle AND my father and myself. I am happy for them, I swear. But Amber was unique, one of a kind. Just like you are, Mewtwo, or you, Madhea. She had her own personality, which is what counts far more than what a person looks like or where they come from!!! I don't want them to simply see this baby as a look-alike replacement, another little Amber with no identity of her own!"  
  
Sharie went silent, breathing hard.  
  
"Do you really think they'd do that?" asked Mew gently, a touch of admonishment in his voice. "Stop, Sharie, and think about it. This isn't like you to react like that."  
  
"No, it isn't," Sharie muttered. "And no, I suppose they won't, I know them too well. But Mew...."  
  
The look in her amethyst eyes told him what she was unable to convey verbally.  
  
Amber had been her own little person, and even a clone would not have been the same Amber unless she'd had the exact same soul. Amber's body might have died, but the reawakened Amber in the lab had still carried Amber's essence, it HAD been Amber there.  
  
This baby, unless the mysterious forces of reincarnation were real, would not be Amber, even if she looked identical to her. She would not have Amber's spirit, and Sharie did not want to see her as a replacement Amber. Sharie wanted to see her as her own little person, valued and not standing in Amber's shadow.  
  
These silent thoughts flowed into Mew's mind, and to Mewtwo's surprise, his own as well. Even Madhea heard it, though she had never known Amber in any sense.  
  
"It's like you, Mewtwo, or you, Madhea," Sharie countinued aloud, finding her tongue again. "You are both cloned from Mews, but the souls inhabiting your bodies are not the same ones that inhabited the bodies of the original Mews. You both have your own unique identities. Or you, Pikachu." Sharie reached down and picked up the little yellow pokemon. "You are cloned from Ash's Pikachu, but your soul is your own, a unique soul. You are not Ash's Pikachu even if you are cloned; you are your own individual, your own identity."  
  
"Chu?" Pikachu looked at her for a moment, puzzled, until her words penetrated the deeper recesses of his mind and truly made sense to him. "Chaa!" he agreed firmly.  
  
Sharie sighed and lowered her head. "I suppose my fears are unfounded. I know my family too well. I just can't bear for Amber's memory to be forcibly relived in another, or if the baby is a lookalike girl, for her constant presence to be a painful reminder to my relatives of whom they lost. Looking at me often makes them sad, even though they don't treat me as they did her. We all loved Amber and her loss affected us all deeply. I don't want an innocent baby to be caught in the middle, either innocently hurting others by how she looks OR being hurt because she feels she's standing in her older sister's shadow."  
  
This Mewtwo understood far too well. Sharie's eyes met his and their look was indeed one of truly mutual understanding.  
  
****  
  
After Sharie had calmed down entirely, she re-read her Aunt's words and was genuinely thrilled. She put her misgivings aside. No, her family truly would not do that. The baby would be a soothing balm in their lives, bringing them joy and peace. It was truly what they needed, she figured.  
  
In fact, she began to outright laugh as she came to some of the final closing words her aunt had put in her part of the e-mail.   
  
***"If this baby is a girl, and if she has the same eyes as you do, Sharie dear, would you ask Madhea if we have her permission to name the baby after her? I've never forgotten holding that dear little Mewtwo in my arms, and what she did for me. Especially I will never forget the look in her eyes, eyes identical to Amber's and called to my heart in the same way, though Madhea be a pokemon. If this baby has the same eyes, then we want to name her Madhea, if not her first name at least her middle. Moonlight Beauty would be fitting, don't you agree?"***  
  
Madhea actually blushed scarlet as she read the passage. Her eyes danced, and she looked pleased.  
  
"Well," she stammered uncertianly. "I suppose I have no objection. I guess I should be flattered."  
  
"Part of it is Aunt Alyssa's roundabout way of saying thank you," Sharie commented, reading her aunt's message between the lines. "You affected her far more deeply than you are too young to understand right now, kiddo. One day you will, I think."  
  
"Oh? When?"  
  
"Soon enough." Since Sharie wasn't all that certain Madhea wanted children of her own one day, Sharie did not say so.  
  
****  
  
Late that night, long after Madhea was asleep, Mewtwo found Sharie, tired though she was, standing by one of the waterfall entrances and staring outside at the moonlight and the bright, twinkling stars overhead.  
  
Something about the look in her eyes an essence from a deep place within Sharie, called to Mewtwo, making him aware again of that deep place that, like it or not, they both seemed to share.  
  
"You're thinking what I am, aren't you?" he asked softly, coming up behind her. "Your desire to unlock the secrets hidden from us is strong now, isn't it?"  
"Yes," she breathed against the gentle breeze flowing into the cavern. "I want to know. I can't ask them, Mewtwo, not without unjustly ripping open old wounds best left alone for them. We can't get answers that way."  
  
"You mentioned another alternative," he said quietly. "There is a place on New Island I was left unaware of?"  
  
"Yes," she said quietly. "During the destruction of the lab Da says he hid some things there....I think I know where he means. He said only if it truly bothered me, what happened, should I go there. I must know what really happened. Why they can't tell me....or you. Why we can't remember, and if I was even involved in the mess on New Island at all."  
  
"And most of all," said Mewtwo, feeling his heart contract painfully with echoes of memories he could barely sense, but not recall, "what it has to do with Amber, and why our shadowed glimpses of supposed 'memories', if they exist for real, are there at all."  
  
Next time you leave, then, shall we go to New Island?" Sharie asked.  
  
"It is agreed," he decided. "In a few weeks, when Luna and Cullen's cabin is crowded with travelers waiting for the bus, we shall leave and fly there, and hopefully find something that tells us something about ourselves we deserve to know."  
  
****  
  
End chapter 11  
  
I am SO sorry I took forever. I've been writing other stories, including a crossover with Mystic Mewtwo's absolutely fantastic story, "Between Two Worlds". The crossover story does not take place in my 'actual' timeline or hers, but is an AU sort of thing....and yes, I have the author's permission and support, before you ask :D Be on the lookout for chapter 12 and beyond, for the journey of this group is going to take them back to the area of New Island and the Oragen Islands, and even some Legendary Birds and Team Rocket....:D 


	12. A Clone's Worth

Legal Disclaimer: Nintendo and Game Freak, Ki's WB, whatever, own Pokemon, I do not. I only own the non-canon characters that sprang from my little head. This chapter has a little less to do with Madhea and Mewtwo this time; it more focuses on a couple of the clones surrounding him every day. I wanted to give them a little more attention. Even the other clones have their worth.   
  
This is chapter 12 in my "Of Moonlight Shadows and Echoes Past" series. Enjoy. All comments appreciated. Thanks go to to those individuals who continually inspire me to do my best and encourage me, and also to those who graciously allow my works on their sites. You all know who you are.....don't you? :D   
  
I'm sorry if the Bulbasaur's Festival in here is a little different from the one portrayed in "Bulbasaur's Secret Garden" but who says they do it the exact same way each time? Is nature the same everywhere? Not that I can see. Enjoy!  
  
Of Moonlight Shadows and Echoes Past, Chapter 12  
By ZeoViolet  
  
****  
  
Two days passed quietly, and peacefully. The moon outside of Mt. Quena continued to glow brightly, though it's waning crescent became ever smaller.  
  
That very evening, the sun set and the moon began to rise.  
  
Sharie felt a strange fluttering in her stomach as the sun's last rays departed from the sky, only bouncing off the quarter moon that remained. She shivered as she stood at one of the entrances into the high mountain, by one of the waterfalls splashing out to the huge river far, far below, making Luna and Cullen's cabin seem miniscule in compairson.  
  
Sharie's mind, however, was not on the unwary humans living far below.  
  
For some reason, she sensed a mystical presence around her, something that ran so deep in the core of everything around her, she doubted most humans *could* sense it. It was disturbing, and strangely exciting, almost as if a spirit of festivity permeated all the lush life around her. She wondered what it was.  
  
She remained silent, though, and only her shivering gave away her jittery nervousness.  
  
"Are you cold?" asked a quiet voice from behind her. Sharie turned her head to see Mewtwo slip up beside her. "It is a warm night, even by this waterfall. I do not wish sickness on you."  
  
"No, I am not sick," she answered quietly. "Can't you sense it?"  
  
"Sense what?" he replied, puzzled by the odd emotion dancing in her ameythst eyes.  
  
She looked at him, surprised. Even Madhea was acting a little bit jumpy; Sharie knew she sensed it, though she did not know what it was, either.  
  
Was it possible Mewtwo wasn't aware of it? He was a pokemon, clone or not! Surely he was able to....  
  
"This!" she exclaimed, and on impulse took his hand before he could react. She placed it against the cavern wall, willing him to feel the very electricity in the earth and life around her she felt. "Please tell me you can feel it!"  
  
He stared at her, shocked.  
  
Gods, could a human feel what had been bugging his own senses today? Was she referring to the deeper things only pokemon sensed? Things he sensed, but always denied himself, a clone?  
  
He did not know what it was--how would a clone know?--but he suddenly knew that, indeed, it was what she was talking about. His eyes filled with emotion and he smiled at her in wonder.  
  
"You, a human," he breathed. "You feel it too..."  
  
"You do feel it!" she exclaimed. "Humans weren't meant to feel it, we are not pokemon--but I can feel it!"  
  
Her eyes were sparkling, excited. Mew, watching this episode in astonishment, came floating up to her. He placed one tiny hand on her forehead, staring at her with awe in his blue eyes.  
  
Sharie blinked in surprise as her heart turned over in her chest, her nerves fairly danced with sensation, and her strange awareness seemed to double in intensity; Mew was allowing her to sense his own awareness alongside hers, as if confirming it for them both.  
  
"I knew it!" exclaimed Mew. "I knew you could. I knew what I was seeing in you wasn't false!"  
  
Sharie dropped her hand, and Mewtwo's, from the cavern walls, her eyes meeting Mew's in astonishment. "What do you mean?" she asked. How often Mew had muttered to himself about things like this, about her--but he would never clarify.   
  
He did not now. He only shook his head. "I am not the one who can tell you that, Sharie."  
  
Sharie did not press. This strange sense, only meant for pokemon, was one of her abilities she considered a gift, something she truly appreciated having. She had never told anyone except her family about it, though, for she had never wanted to give others yet another reason to find her a freak.  
  
Freak or not, it was worth it, at times, to be able to sense things like this, and be grateful some unseen power had decided she should be gifted with such an ability. The others she had she would rather do without, but her ability to talk to pokemon and have their special brand of sixth sense....she'd never trade away.  
  
"Sharie!" Madhea squealed suddenly from behind them, so surprised she spoke aloud in the Mew language. "Look!"  
  
Madhea had become stock-still in front of her favorite lilac tree. To their utter amazement, the tree began to glitter and sparkle, and quite suddenly burst into bloom, filling that corner of the cavern with a rich shower of color and light.  
  
"Amazing," Sharie breathed, coming over and staring at the tree in wonder. Her nose was assaulted by the most inviting scent--Lilacs were her favorite flower. This smell, by flowers bursting into bloom rather out of season, was twice as rich and invitingly aromatic. "But what--"  
  
Her eyes widened in wonder as the whole cavern filled with sparkles, the light reflecting off them in rainbows of colors. The colorful sparkles danced in the air, swirling around all of them and enhancing the mood of every form of life in the cavern. Flower buds burst into bloom on the grass, all trees capable of flowering did so now, whether they were in season or not.  
  
This rich, hidden utopia was not immune to the effects of the world around it, and everything seemed bathed in a soft light.  
  
It all felt utterly peaceful.  
  
Sharie dared not move. Nobody did, not wanting to disturb this magical, nature-inspired dance from nowhere.  
  
"But what is causing it?" Sharie wondered, even as her nose was buried in the lilac boquet Madhea had picked and thrust into her hands. The young pokemon was just as entranced by this as any other pokemon. Being a clone did not alter this sense within her in the slightest.  
  
Sharie searched her mind's vast store of knowledge, wondering what secret was behind this mysterious, fascinating event. Some pokemon she knew--she alone of all humans being privy to such secrets--were capable of some of the most mysterious things imaginable. Humans were aware of some of these things, but they'd be astonished at some of the things pokemon had confided in her over the years, things she'd promised to herself to keep secret, for humans in general were better off not knowing.  
  
This episode, though, required some thought.  
  
She soon got her answer, from an unlikely source.  
  
"Bluba....saur....." Sharie suddenly paused, and felt something thin and whiplike prod her legs rather frantically. "Bulba...."  
  
Sharie looked down, startled, coming out of her trance to see the Bulbasaur clone beside her, the color in his face off an the bulb on his back glowing on and off, brightly.  
  
Bulbasaur seemed in pain. His amber eyes looked at her pleadingly. "Bulba...saur...."  
  
"Oh, my goodness." Sharie laid the lilacs aside as she sat down on the grass, Bulbasaur crawling painfully to her. "What..."  
  
Her eyes quickly scanned him, and her fingers touched his bulb, and she felt a frantic pulsing from the plant on his back--pulsing with life bursting to be free.  
  
"You are ready to evolve, Bulbasaur," she said quietly, the timing and sudden reason for today's strange acts of nature occuring to her. "All this--"   
  
She raised her eyes and looked around her. "Your body is responding to the call, isn't it?"  
  
"Bulba...."  
  
"Bulbasaur is doing this?" asked Mewtwo, confused.  
  
Sharie shook her head. "Not Bulbasaur himself, no. But I should have known. Wild members of the Bulbasaur family, them and their evolutions, have a yearly ritual, in a mysterious garden few have ever seen. They hold their festival there, and no one can get in once they start. Vines barricade the way each time. I only know of one source from someone who saw it."  
  
She looked at Bulbasaur's pleading face and continued softly while stroking his bulb soothingly. "It was told to a Nurse Joy, who wrote an article on it. Three children were witness to such an event, the only humans known to have done so. Brock, Misty, and Ash Ketchum witnessed it once--the very children whom you know, Mewtwo."  
  
His stunned silence lingered as her answer. She smiled.  
  
"Certainly no researcher has ever seen it. It'd be any scientists' dream to witness such an event. I'd love to myself, but those involved in their festival do not like outsiders witnessing their private rituals. I do know, however, that their festival is a time for evolution. Bulbasaur and Ivysaur can evolve outside of the festival, but they feel specially honored if they manage to hang on until they are in one."  
  
She looked into Bulbasaur's rather distressed eyes. "Is that what you want, Bulbasaur? Do you want to evolve now? Your body is more than ready, and you would gain incredible powers of nature by evolving."  
  
"Bulba!" The word was a sharp "no!" to Sharie's ears. Bulbasaur's eyes filled with tears, though, and he implored her to understand.  
  
"I think I see your point," she said, reading the thoughts churning in his large eyes. "You would get stronger, and get more powers. You would be able to help protect your friends here better. That you feel, right?"  
  
"Saur!" Bulbasaur nodded emphatically.  
  
Sharie's fingertips stroked his forehead and his burning bulb, somehow knowing how to ease his discomfort with her very touch. "But you also don't want to change who you are yet. Once you evolve, you are an entirely different species of pokemon. You also feel you don't deserve it, being a clone."  
  
"Saur!"  
  
She hugged him lightly, careful of his sensetive bulb. "Your heart and soul never change, Bulbasaur. Your body might change to a whole new pokemon, but nothing can change the soul. But you don't want so much change, I can understand that. It is your choice whether to evolve or not. However, being a clone would not make you deserve it any less. Nature would know that, not just some cloning method. I am sure no member of a Bulbasaur family would hold your being a clone against you. You are still alive, with your own identity, and the power within you clearly responds."  
  
She smiled at him, and despite his discomfort, he smiled back. He marveled at how she made him feel better, and he so desperately wanted to believe her words.  
  
Especially the part about being a clone having no lessening of value, no undesirable effects on his, or any pokemon's, worth.  
  
All the clones would love for that dream to be real.  
  
If only it could be, thought Bulbasaur sadly.  
  
"Venusaur!" Boomed a voice, and suddenly a large vine came over and lightly touched Bulbasaur's head.  
  
Obviously Venusaur had been listening to their conversation. He let out a loud series of syllables, voicing his own opinion.  
  
Even fully evolved, he supported Bulbasaur's decision. Both knew full well what it was like to have someone attempt to force them against their will. Such choices about their lives should not be made by others. Venusaur, cloned or not, was fully evolved and had the power, but he knew that Bulbasaur's inner strength matched his own, where it truly counted.  
  
That inner strength was not tempered in the slightest, or made stronger or weaker, by evolution or being a clone.  
  
Whether a pokemon evolved or not could not change that inner strength. All pokemon, weak or strong, were equal in part because of this strength. Evolution or being a clone had nothing to do with it, especially since their hearts and souls showed no discrimination because they were copies. Nor did it have anything to do with a pokemon's value.  
  
Had it not been proven, that day or horror ages ago, when their tears, clone and original alike, evolved or not alike, had brought another life back from the brink of death? Hadn't all their inner power been the same?  
  
Bulbasaur was smiling happily at this, and Sharie's eyes shimmered brightly.  
  
"You big softie!" she exclaimed to Venusaur, truly admiring his wisdom. "With a heart like yours your inner strength can be seen all the time!"  
  
Venusaur, in a rare display of affection, grinned. His vine snaked out to grab Sharie around the waist, and he lifted her high into the air, despite her surprised gasp, and, with a *snap* of his vines, sent her flying in the air long enough for him to catch her with his other, and using Vine Whip, he tossed her affectionately back and forth a few times until she was laughing.  
  
Mewtwo watched this in faint amusement. His pokemon friends might be clones, but their wisdom was deep and sure, and their words rang true. He still had a lot to learn, himself. They could teach him as much as he had taught them.  
  
****  
  
At last Venusaur put Sharie down. She smiled and hugged his huge frame before bending to lift Bulbasaur into her arms.  
  
"You don't have to evolve," she told him firmly. "Not unless you want to. Did you ever hold that everstone I gave Meowth?"  
  
"Bulba."  
  
At his negative reply, Sharie shrugged. "You haven't, hm? Well, if you truly don't want to evolve your body won't, but the Everstone will make sure of the process. You don't have to be in attentance to one of the Festivals for the effects of it to weaken your ability to hold your own evolution back. The everstone will ensure you don't."  
  
"Saur!" At this Bulbasaur agreed.  
  
Meowth must have been listening, because he came running up on all fours, the stone in his teeth.  
  
"Blech!" he said as he gave it to her. "I hate holding stuff in my mouth like that. Maybe I should do what my clone did....learn to walk and talk like a human. Then there's *no* way I'd ever be misunderstood again! Plus I'd have my front paws free."  
  
Sharie blanched, and stared at him, while holding the everstone out to Bulbasaur. The small green pokemon took it in his vine and held it.  
  
"Well....maybe not *that* badly," continued Meowth after a pause. "It'd make me even more of a copycat than I am now, wouldn't it?"  
  
"Well, you already seem to have mastered puns, like the Meowth I saw in my visions," Sharie gave him a rather sickly half-smile at his Copycat reference. It was true....both he, and Mewtwo and Madhea, gave the word copycat new meanings. "It would seem going on from there is up to you."  
  
Meowth's front paws flew up and clapped over his mouth for an instant, then he lowered them and laughed. "Don't worry, I am not *that* desperate."  
  
"Bulba....saur." A slender vine snaked up and tapped Sharie on the shoulder. She looked down to see the everstone being placed in her hands by Bulbasaur's vines. "Bulba!"  
  
His bulb had stopped pulsing, and his overall color was certainly better. "Bulbasaur!"  
  
"I am glad for you, then, too," Sharie smiled at him.  
  
The quiet tranquility around them was shattered, though, just moments later.  
  
****  
  
There was a flash of light in the air nearby, so bright for a moment, everyone was blinded.  
  
Suddenly, new "Bulba....bulba....bulba," and "Ivy....Ivy...Ivysaur!" could be heard.  
  
Sharie was more than astonished to see an Ivysaur and another Bulbsaur appear out of thin air from the bright light.  
  
They only looked around briefly, and spied Bulbasaur standing right beside Sharie.  
  
Quick as a flash, their own Vine Whips snaked out and lashed around Bulbasaur's feet and around his middle. Over his astonished protests, they lifted him up and, in another flash of light, were gone again.  
  
"Bulbasaur!" Sharie cried out, unable to help herself, as the light faded. It had all happened in a space of moments; too fast for any of the other astonished pokemon, frozen in place from surprise, to react.  
  
"Wh-What just happened?" Mewtwo demanded as soon as he found his thoughts again. Never before had he witnessed such a spectacle.  
  
"They took him," Sharie answered softly, her mind racing. "Using Teleport. That's almost impossible for a grass-type to learn. I should know. I've been the only scientist *ever* who's managed to teach such a move to a grass-type on a trained Bulbasaur once. Otherwise, such a maneuvar is unheard-of."  
  
"Yet they used it," Mewtwo countered in a silky, cautious tone. Sharie could not blame him.  
  
"It's why I am sure they are wild pokemon. No other trainer could have taught them that. It was only because I know things about pokemon most others don't that I was able to teach that other Bulbasaur Teleport. I know from a handful of other wild Bulbasaur and Ivysaur that a tiny handful of their numbers, a precious few, somehow know the move. They are the ones that are never captured. It's why no trained pokemon knows it."  
  
Mewtwo could see her point, and his flash of suspicion about her dissolved instantly, to be replaced by a sort of shame.  
  
Such pokemon would be impossible to capture, and no trainer would know the secrets of pokemon well enough to teach a trained grass-type a move only a few wild ones, through some great mystery, did somehow manage to learn. In such cases of extreme rarity, not even Spider Web or Mean Look would really have any effect.  
  
Sharie seemed to be the only human aware of this, and it was plain she did not plan on wisening any other human to the possibilities and endless mysteries the world of pokemon offered.  
  
Even she might not know all the mysteries herself yet (even her advanced knowledge was still a tiny fraction of true pokemon mystery), but it was becoming increasingly clear she was capable of understanding them in ways few others ever could.  
  
"We must go," Sharie said quickly, moving towards her backpack. "Private ritual or not, they cannot force Bulbasaur to evolve if he doesn't want to. Not even their power will get past the power of the everstone if Bulbasaur doesn't want to evolve."  
  
Mewtwo nodded in agreement at this. "I wonder how they even knew he was here."  
  
"No doubt those two were scouts sent out to find stray Bulbasaur or Ivysaur that for some reason were not able to get to the festival they must have planned," Sharie grunted as she hefted her backpack onto her back. "Such scouts are rare, but are very efficent, mainly because they can get around so quickly and are never captured, so trainers don't know about them."  
  
"Venusaur!" bellowed a voice from behind them. Sharie turned to see Venusaur stomping forward, ambling towards them. "Vee!"  
  
"You want to come?" Sharie's wide gaze took him in.   
  
"Veenuusaaauur!" he bellowed, making his decision clear.  
  
"Then come," agreed Mewtwo. "Maybe you can help talk some sense into them."  
  
"Whatever we do, we must move quickly," said Sharie as she felt Madhea's small hand slip into hers, making it clear she was along for the ride. Sharie understood--Bulbasaur had become Madhea's close friend. "It could start at any time, and we will have to get around their barricades. I'd like to accomplish this without ruining their festival, if at all possible. This was not something I would have ever set out to do just to see it, trust me!"  
  
"Nor I," agreed Mewtwo grimely, worry for his fellow clone shadowing his ameythst eyes. "Let them understand that the festival is their choice, but Bulbasaur's choice over his own future is his alone."  
  
His body began to glow an icy blue color, the same color which surrounded Venusaur. A sort of pinkish color glowed around Mew, and Sharie and Madhea, under their own power, telekenetically lifted themselves off the ground, also glowing blue.  
  
Out of one of the waterfall openings they flew, soaring high above the ground, their silouhettes showing against the waning crescent moon in the sky.  
  
Had Luna Carson and Cullen Calix been awake to see it, it would have been an astonishing sight indeed.  
  
****  
  
"How do we find them?" asked Madhea innocently as she flew beside Sharie. "Those pokemon just appeared and disappeared in only a few seconds. Too fast to think!"  
  
Sharie smiled at her. "Had we been prepared, it would not have been too fast, but who expects Teleporting grass-types? Not even the fastest, strongest trained pokemon in existence would expect something like that, much less react to it in time. It's too rare, even in the Bulbasaur family."  
  
"Well, it's another strategy I'll keep in mind for battle," Madhea asserted. "You taught me to expect the unexpected, and to react before it happens--but that's a new one. Now I know."  
  
Sharie touched her chin lightly. "I think your mind barriers are quite strong now. You've had a few days to get used to your new abilities and depths of power. I am no longer afraid that trying to train you so soon after your powers exploded on you like they did will shatter your newfound barriers. Do you feel like you can continue training now?"  
  
Madhea nodded.  
  
"Good. Maybe now you will be able to master the electric moves better--especially Thundershock."  
  
"Thunder was easier to learn than Thundershock," Madhea mused. "I kept shocking *myself* with Thundershock and Spark, but not with Thunderbolt or Thunder."  
  
"The first two are close-range electric attacks, that's why," Sharie said, amused. "No wonder you had a harder time."  
  
Mewtwo listened to this in astonishment. He had no idea Madhea's abilites were so far-flung, so diverse. Sharie had said Madhea could do other attacks, but he had no idea just *how* many she had taught Madhea. It almost made him wish Giovanni had been as considerate with him as Sharie had been with Madhea.  
  
A few moments later, though, conversation stopped. The thoughts of Bulbasaur, and how he might suffer, loomed largely in their minds, and they could not keep their minds straying in any direction for long.  
  
****  
  
Sharie's keen senses told her and Mew, before anyone else, where to look. The concentration of life-giving energy, the same sense that had made Sharie's nerves tingle all day, grew sharper very suddenly, not too far from Mt. Quena, and the sparkles that still filled the air also grew in concentration.  
  
Sharie stopped, very abruptly, in the air.  
  
"We should not fly any closer," she said in a low tone. "Our chances of a peaceful solution to this problem will drop, sharply I might add, if we just dropped in. I know from other Bulbasaur that we should walk from here."  
  
Mewtwo fought the urge to press further the faster way, but he also did not want any violence to come from this rescue mission. Venusaur and, surprisingly Mew, who must have seen this a few times himself, nodded in agreement.  
  
Venusaur might not have, but the ritual for such a festival was bred into his very genetic structure. He knew, as well.  
  
As they lowered themselves quietly to the ground, in the middle of the dark forest, a faint glow could be seen in the distance.  
  
Sharie's senses sharpened considerably, and she felt the same sort of life-controlling energy run through her as she'd sensed from Bulbasaur's bulb. Yes, this was the place. It had to be.  
  
All of them had to restrain the urge to hurry on as fast as they could. Some mystical presence about the forest, at least for tonight, urged (but did not force) them from being in any hurry, a sort of reverence blanketing them all and making them all feel as if it was just not right to race around.  
  
It was astonishing to feel, an act of nature that ran so deeply in the blood of all the pokemon around her. Even though they were not of the Bulbasaur family (save for Venusaur) and all except Mew were clones, they all recongnized it, deep down, and felt compelled to obey it.  
  
*Even us clones,* Mewtwo thought, truly astonished to feel himself responding to nature so deeply for the first time in his life, *Even the copies, products of science, still know as if we were the originals....nature isn't excluding us, the outcast clones this time. But....why?*  
  
He could not bring himself to say it to anyone, because in a way he was so overcome, but a part of him, the true pokemon within him, was more deeply moved than he'd ever felt before.  
  
Madhea and Sharie were the only ones to see him tremble slightly, and they both understood.  
  
Quietly, Madhea reached up and slipped her small hand into Mewtwo's. Her grip was tight with assurance and understanding, and he understood the little girl's silent message.  
  
*Even us outcasts....feel what we should have no claim to feel.....*  
  
****  
  
The travelers stopped abruptly.  
  
The path before them was barricaded, several feet high, by an impenetrable wall of powerful vines.  
  
"What do we do now?" asked Madhea, perplexed. "You said we should not fly, Sharie. Do we climb over?"  
  
"No," answered her companion.  
  
Venusaur was already moving forwards.  
  
He stopped close to the vine wall.  
  
Two of his own vines snaked out of his body and reached up, touching the wall and caressing it in some strange pattern that must make sense only to a Venusaur, Sharie guessed.  
  
"Vee!" Venusaur bellowed, but a quiet bellow. "Vee....nuuusss....sauuurrr!"  
  
There was silence for a moment; and Vensuaur's echoes faded away in the distance.  
  
Suddenly the ivy walls began to slither, and a bright glow appeared out of nowhere and surrounded Venusaur.  
  
And, a moment later, to Sharie's astonishment, her as well.  
  
Her whole body glowed for a few seconds, and then the strange charm around her neck, right beside her locket, lit up with it's own internal light, sucking the glow from around her, absorbing all of it into itself.  
  
Why, Sharie had no idea. But the charm's light faded momentarily, then suddenly flared up once more.  
  
The ivy on the walls trembled again, and suddenly, Venusaur let out a melodious bellow, and Shaire's charm emitted a similar sound, a deep, rumbling signal.  
  
Very suddenly, before the astonished party the wall in front of them snaked backwards enough to admit all of them.  
  
Even as she hurried through, Sharie had no idea of what she and Venusaur had just done. Maybe he knew his part, but she had no idea of hers, and frankely, she was not sure she wanted to know.  
  
****  
  
The gentle glow in the distance paved the rest of the way. Sharie knew enough of the ritual to motion to the others to get close, but to stay quiet until they could discern what was happening.  
  
They soon found a clearing, and a bunch of garbled pokemon talk coming from it.  
  
This was the place.  
  
Sharie stopped, transfixed by what greeted her eyes.  
  
Dozens of Bulbasaur and Ivysaur were lurking in this midnight meadow, all speaking in hushed tones. Sharie just barely caught whispers of their talk of evolution, and of this holy festival that would make them evolve.  
  
This festival was a deeply-set part of wild Bulbasaur family society.  
  
It squared Sharie's determination to not ruin it for them if she possibly could, while still getting Bulbasaur out of there.  
  
They were sure to be upset when they found out they could not fight the power of the Everstone unless Bulbasaur really wanted to evolve, which he didn't. Sharie hoped the situation could be resolved peacefully.  
  
Sharie looked, but could not immediately spot Bulbasaur in the crowd.  
  
She didn't have time to do a lot of looking, though she sensed he was here.  
  
There was a loud stomping as another Venusaur came into view, this one huge, much bigger than the cloned one behind Sharie.  
  
All the other Ivysaur and Bulbasaur in the meadow became reverently quiet as he ambled past on powerful legs, for his presence commanded respect from everyone present.  
  
To the tree in the center of the gently-glowing meadow he moved, until he was well under it and the center of attention.  
  
Nobody moved, not even the group on the edge of the meadow. Sharie had no idea if Venusaur knew they were there or not, but she was determined not to intervene in so important a ritual unless it became necessary. She could only hope Venusaur would be the understanding type when he saw Bulbasaur deciding not to evolve.  
  
"Veee....nuuuu....saaaauuurr!" The huge Venusaur bellowed, lifting his head skyward.  
  
"Ivy....saur!!!!"  
  
"Bul....ba....sauuurr!"  
  
All the wild pokemon in the field answered and echoed his call.  
  
The call must have summoned some sort of magic forth; for the tree above the huge Venusaur burst into bloom. Each flower that formed and burst open exploded forth clouds of sparkles that filled the whole meadow in every direction, dancing on beautiful waves of color.  
  
Sharie's heart caught in her throat at the sight. She'd never dreamed she's ever see this! Right now she was the envy of every other pokemon researcher interested in these types of things. She'd probably never end up telling anybody but her father--if Mewtwo allowed it--but she felt a wave of deep gratitude at what fate was allowing her to witness.  
  
The colorful sparkles filled the meadow and began to glow brighter, catching up each Bulbasaur and Ivysaur in it's light.  
  
Sharie's charm began to glow again, responding somehow to the call in it's own way. And when all the pokemon in the meadow opened their mouths and let out loud noises that sounded like humming, the charm around her neck vibrated to the call, though this time it made no sound of it's own.  
  
Again, Sharie had no clue as to *why*.  
  
From behind her, she was vaguely aware of the cloned Venusaur quietly emitting the same deep, vibrating melody.  
  
Suddenly, the pitch of the humming doubled in loudness, and a white light surrounded every Bulbasaur and Ivysaur, obliterating their features.  
  
It left only white shadows, which began to shift and change shape, growing larger.  
  
Leaves on the backs of these pokemon unfurled, bulbs turned red or burst into bloom altogether, depending on what they were evolving into.  
  
The power of the ceremony was incredible, even to the non-grass-types lingering at the edge of the field. Sharie was sure that Mewtwo and Madhea, even Mew, were as overwhelmed as she was by this powerful intensity that called to parts of their pokemon heritage they'd probably never before even been aware of.  
  
*It is true,* she thought to herself. *Even as clones it is all a part of you, and impossible to deny--so why try?*  
  
However, she did not say this aloud.  
  
Gently, the glow faded away, and Sharie's eyes were wide ameythst orbs as she observed the field of changed pokemon.  
  
The field was now full of new Venusaur, and new Ivysaur.  
  
All the pokemon looked at themselves for a moment, pleased, then simultaneously lifted their heads in a loud bellow of approval.  
  
It made Sharie's heart thump in her chest and a tingling sensation rush through her. Madhea's hand, which had been in hers, twiched, and Sharie saw her eyes were full of tears. Not unhappy tears, but because she was overwhelmed by such powerful feeling.  
  
Mewtwo's eyes were also shimmering, and even Mew's eyes were misty. Sharie understood. Who could witness this and *not* feel the deep, soul-related tugging of their own beings, their own heritage? Clones or not, it would always be a part of them and it was becoming even clearer to Mewtwo that it was useless to deny it so strongly.  
  
Sharie, deep down, wished he would not at all.  
  
And she did not want Madhea to even start this denial.  
  
****  
  
"Venusaur!"  
  
The word echoed over the glen, sharp and angry.  
  
Sharie's eyes lifted suddenly, knowing instinctively what it meant. Frantically she searched for Bulbasaur.  
  
At last, by looking in the huge Venusaur's visual direction, she spotted Bulbasaur, trembling and his blulb glowing again, right a the feet of a newly-evolved Venusaur. There was a determined scowl on his face.  
  
"Saur!" The Venusaur he was by suddenly snaked a huge vine around Bulbasaur's waist and lifted him up, high, so that the lead Venusaur could see him better.  
  
"Saur, Saur! Venusaur!" Bellowed the lead Venusaur.  
  
"Bulba....bulbasaur!" retorted Bulbasaur stubbornly.  
  
A long, thick vine snaked out of the lead Venusaur's body and shot towards Bulbasaur, pressing square in the middle of his forehead. "Venusaur!"  
  
Bulbasaur suddenly looked very afraid.  
  
"No! Please, don't!" came a sudden cry, not in their language--clearly from a source of one not of their kind.  
  
****  
  
Sharie could not help but move, when she saw this happen. If anything had to be done, it was now.  
  
The lead Venusaur looked astonished when she pushed her way through the crowd. A human! Here....  
  
Sharie boldy ran directly up to the Venusaur holding Bulbasaur immoble.  
  
"Saur....saur, Venusaur," she begged him quietly. "Please, let my friend go."  
  
"Venusaur...." the surprised pokemon looked indecisively at this human intruder.  
  
"Please?" Sharie whispered, her purple eyes glittering as she held up her arms towards Bulbasaur.  
  
In a fit of compassion, and probably defiance to the leader, the Venusaur found himself complying.  
  
"Bulba!" Bulbasaur ground out, trembling with relief and happiness to be in Sharie's protective grasp. Suddenly he was no longer afraid.  
  
Sharie gasped, though, and her head jerked up at the sharp bellow from the lead Vensuaur. "SAUR!"  
  
Resolute, and without fear, she walked up directly to him and squared her shoulders.  
  
He stared at her, his gaze very sharp.  
  
Her eyes met his unflinchingly.  
  
"Saur!" he bellowed again.  
  
Sharie began speaking quietly in his language.  
  
"We do not wish to ruin your festival," she began softly. "Something like this should not have to ruin it. But please.....Bulbasaur is my friend. He does not wish to evolve right now."  
  
"Saur!" Mixed in with his astonishment at her ability to speak his language was his surprise at Bulbasaur's desire to stay the same. "Venus....Vee...nusaur!"  
  
Sharie was astonished....he wasn't angry because he thought Bulbasaur was ruining the festival, that was for sure....but for a different reason entirely. "I would never force another to evolve, but why is he here otherwise? I can't believe he would just want to ruin our festival for no reason!..."  
  
"Then why is he here?" she repeated, shocked. "A couple of your scouts teleported in and bore him off without asking him. I am sure they were only doing their job, and it probably never occured to them one of you might not want to evolve. It isn't their fault, but I only ask you not force Bulbasaur against his will. I am sure you would hate being forced to do something so drastic against *your* will."  
  
A sudden glow right by Bulbasaur's head caught the lead Venusaur's attention. his vine snaked out again and curled around Sharie's charm, lifting it off her chest so he could see it better.  
  
It glowed again, with a soft light.  
  
It must have had some meaning to him that it did not to her, for he lowered it slowly, and suddenly his gaze had become much softer. "Venusaur," he said. "I understand now how you got in so easily."  
  
His vine let go of it. "And even if you had not, something like this so rarely happens I was angry. You are right, human girl. I have a brother who was forced to remember the worth of Bulbasaurs. A small Bulbasaur belonging to a human boy, the only other time a human has witnessed our gathering, taught them all that Evolution isn't everything. I know. I was there, in the crowd of Ivysaurs. Evolution does make us change who we are in some ways, and if your young friend does not desire it, then he will not be forced. Not all of us desire such change."  
  
The bright glow of gratitude in Sharie's eyes matched Bulbasaur's. Both were grateful that Venusaur had understood from the first--he'd just misinterpreted Bulbasaur's reluctance to evolve.  
  
Venusaur lifted his eyes upwards, to the flower-filled tree. "Don't you want this power for yourself, Bulbasaur? To manipulate nature like this?"  
  
Bulbasaur, giddy with relief and unable to contain himself any longer, erupted in a flood of dialogue, about not wanting to change and what would a clone, a scientific copy of another original Bulbasaur, be deserving of such powers?  
  
Sharie stilled in surprise when she heard another rumbling bellow....the cloned Venusaur stepped forward and added his comments to Bulbasaur's.  
  
But the lead Venusaur simply shook his head.  
  
"Since ancient times any pokemon, especially any Bulbasaur family member, who has felt the call has been accepted, no matter their origin," he said firmly. "Any member of our species with enough wisdom will tell you that. You felt the call, your hearts responded. In the end, Nature will always be stronger than man; and nature is what we follow. Since it is the soul that responds the deepest, and you have, I see no reason why you are not entitled to such power, either of you."  
  
The lead Venusaur nodded his head towards the edge of the clearing. "Your other companions--I am sure you have them--may come forward."  
  
Sharie looked over and grinned as Mewtwo, Mew, and Madhea rather shyly stepped forward. Bulbasaur ran up to Mewtwo and Madhea in relief, and Madhea, especially, greeted her friend.  
  
The lead Venusaur snapped his vines, and the tree above him suddenly burst forth another wave of sparkly, shimmering light. Sharie's charm glowed again.  
  
The lead Venusaur noticed this.  
  
"Play it," he encouraged. "Only a human who is directly connected to such a pokemon charm can play it; I am sure you can."  
  
Sharie's fingers obediently tapped out the rhythm to turn the charm into the special, odd-shaped instrument it magically became, and she lifted it to her lips and began to play a melody she herself had never heard before--she did not know where it came from, but some force compelled her to play.  
  
The shimmering air around them began to vibrate and dance in new ways, captivating everyone and settling over them all a feeling of quiet peace.  
  
The lead Venusaur saw what Mew did about the charm Sharie wore, and while he, too, was astonished, he knew that, like Mew, he could never tell the girl directly why she had been so gifted with it.  
  
Or it's deeper meaning.  
  
But he knew she would only make the best use of it.  
  
****  
  
Well! Strange, eh? Different, I know, but I could not help myself. I wish I had room to make this bigger, but I don't. Watch out for chapter 13! 


	13. Storms

Disclaimer: Nintendo, yes, me, no. Maybe I should start just using the initials NYMN and leave it at that. Even if it is for legality purposes, so I'm not sued for copyright infringment, writing disclaimers every chapter is very tedious. Oh, yeah, in this chapter--heavy 'awww' factor :D  
  
Of Moonlight Shadows and Echoes Past, chapter 13  
By ZeoViolet  
****  
  
Madhea gave a little snarl in the back of her throat as she crouched, ready to spring.  
  
Sharie tensed up her slender body, waiting for the inevetable attack.  
  
Using her tail as a springboard, Madhea seemed to defy gravity as she leaped straight at her foe, hands held ready.  
  
Her small hands began to glow a bright yellow, and by the time she crashed into Sharie, she was delivering a powerful thundershock attack.  
  
Sharie held her ground, using a mixture of Light Screen and Barrier to absorb and deflect of the assault. Still, pain seared her senses, and she used the side of her hand to deliver a swift blow to Madhea's neck, stunning the girl momentarily and cutting off the attack.  
  
Madhea, only dazed for a second, growled again and lashed out with her tail, hitting a very vulnerable spot Sharie had taught her, right in the area of the knees.  
  
Sharie's legs buckled, and she went tumbling.   
  
However, as she fell, one of her hands caught Madhea square at her slender waist and flipped her, using a sudden psyburst to send her flying. Sharie concentrated as she summoned an imitation Faint Attack--very hard for a psychic human, even more than a psychic pokemon to learn-- and faded out.  
  
She faded in as Madhea was still flying, and crashed into her with the type of energy that would devastate any Psychic pokemon. Madhea let out a squeal of pain as she plummeted towards the ground.  
  
Sharie decided to end it. Teleporting, she disappeared from where she had been in the air and reached the ground first. Before Madhea could be seriously hurt, she caught the young pokemon just before she hit the ground.  
  
"Oof!" Sharie grunted, as they both sank to the ground. Madhea slumped tiredly in her arms. "I think that's enough, Madhea. You are learning almost *too* fast. You almost got the best of me that time."  
  
"You were holding back," Madhea grumbled, wiggling tiredly out of Sharie's grasp but still holding on to her.  
  
"This is our first practice session we've had since coming here, kiddo. And the first since your powers nearly destroyed you. I want to be careful this first time around. Still, you've mastered Thundershock and Spark at last. Your Thunder is more accurate than ever. You've even got Zap Cannon's accuracy up to almost 100%, and that move is very difficult even for electric pokemon. Your Rage and Outrage moves can't be beat. I know how accurate you are on a vareity of other moves, too. Next time, want to work on the accuracy of your Metronome and Faint Attack?"  
  
"Metronome? My metronome always backfires somehow!" Madhea shivered in disgusted memory.  
  
"Not as much as it used to. It is possible to control such a move more than most trainers are aware. Trust me, you won't get Splash every single time and flop around like some demented demon. Or that Selfdestruct you had to endure that one time. Okay?" Sharie raised her eyebrows at her young friend.  
  
Madhea sighed tiredly and nodded, a smile on her face but shuddering inwardly at the memory of that awful Selfdestruct....  
  
"And there's something else," Sharie added, touching Madhea's forehead gently, right between her large eyes. "You've finally learned to conceal what comes into your eyes in combat. I always beat you down before because your eyes often gave your intents away, betraying some emotion or looking in some direction you were ready to pounce. Quite suddenly you've learned to mask it. For several seconds there, I could not read you easily by looking into your eyes. It's no wonder you caught me unawares. I'm proud of you."  
  
Madhea grinned, surprised and delighted. That had been one of the hardest methods of combat she'd been training to master, and it was one of the biggest advantages Sharie'd had over her. When fighting like she could, Madhea could never read any emotion or intent in Sharie's eyes. It was why she had always won.  
  
Today, Sharie was telling her she had finally succeded in doing this herself.  
  
"You're quite an accomplishment, kiddo," Sharie commented, hugging Madhea briefly, but hard. "Let's call it a day."  
  
"It's night out," Madhea reminded her pertly, indicating the waning crescent moon far above them.  
  
"Imp." Sharie chucked her under the chin before making her sore body struggle to it's feet. Ow, Madhea was getting so much stronger lately--  
  
Only then did Sharie become aware of the group of pokemon clones watching them both in openmouthed astonishment.  
  
Especially Mewtwo.  
  
He had not before been aware of Sharie's method of training. Madhea's training partner was Sharie, of course, who else could it have been--but to such an extreme degree! Mewtwos were so powerful--he wondered how Sharie avoided being killed. Madhea was so young but already she was so powerful....It could come to a day when Madhea was even too strong for *her*.  
  
Indeed, both pokemon and human had bruises all over them from the sheer intensity of their practice session. But it was plain how Madhea had become so powerful and so skilled so fast. No wonder she had stat-jumped like mad for her young age. Mewtwo was willing to bet that for her level, her stats were *far* above the norm, even in the area of Attack and Defense.  
  
Sharie, those months traveling alone with her little companion, had trained her this way on purpose, to give her the best chance at defense from all types of other pokemon--and other humans. She wanted Madhea to be prepared as much as possible for whatever dangers life might throw her way. Psychics were no longer considered the supreme pokemon type....not with Ghost-, Bug-, and the greatest danger, Dark-types out there now. Mewtwo was sure Madhea knew how to fend off all three.  
  
Mewtwo shook his head to himself. If only Giovanni had known it then, of the existence of types that would bring even him to his knees. That Tyranitar attack, it had been five days ago, now--he'd never forget that. Him, a Legendary Pokemon, beaten down by such a creature....all because he was completely invulnerable to Psychics.  
  
Giovanni had considered him so poweful in the Psychic field, he believed it was all that was really necessary. Back then he had not known of the dark-type. Mewtwo actually knew few real attacks outside of Psychic, and it exposed a serious weakness on his part.  
  
He could come close. He could force temperatures to lower, he could use telekentic power to force storm clouds to create huge storms, or telekenetically manipulate temperature to drive up the heat to searing temperatures....but it was not the same as using sheer water-type energy, or fire-type energy, or even grass-type energy for moves like Solarbeam. His psychic imitation of such moves were that...imitation at best, and not the genuine energy source. He only had a bare inkling of how to truly do so....and only when Sharie's encouragement the day they had met, the day of the attack, had forced a genuine Blizzard out of him. He hadn't done it again since.  
  
Madhea, obviously, had been taught to shatter such barriers with ease. Today alone he had seen her use Ice Beam and Water Gun both, not out of her mouth like the common way, but by focusing it from a point right above her head, or from between her hands like he did his own psychic attacks. She charged up her energy and pushed it into a ball right where she wanted it, changed it into the energy type she wanted, and let go....water or ice spurting from nowhere between her hands or above her head. It seemed so simple.  
  
Why had Giovanni been so dense?  
  
Mewtwo almost made up his mind for Sharie to teach him that, too. She'd already somehow taught Gyarados Thunderbolt, Flamethrower, and Dragonbreath. She'd taught Psyduck to master his own latent psychic powers and to control his confusion attack. Psyduck could even swim now. A few others now knew moves most trainers would never have thought them capable of learning.  
  
Mewtwo certainly no longer doubted her A- Master's ranking was well-earned. Only such a master would suspect that pokemon were much more capable than even scientists figured, much less try things they'd never heard of before.  
  
Sharie was easily League Champ material, but lacking the drive or the call and understanding her feelings towards all pokemon, he knew she'd never take up such a challenge.  
  
It felt strange, considering asking the daughter of one of two humans he hated the most to show him how to master what Madhea knew with ease.  
  
But he'd never let anybody try and master him again.  
  
Ever.  
  
If only he could learn to trust Sharie, as well....if only his heart could reconcile with the doubt he still held in his mind. By now Mewtwo was sure it was imposslbe that he would ever trust Sharie--not fully.  
  
Still....the advantages of asking her seemed to outweigh the risks--for what could she do?  
  
****  
  
Sharie felt the Super Potion ease the ache in her limbs, and she could see Madhea brightening, too, as the bruises on them rapidly faded. This stuff healed quickly if used right.  
  
She got up and went to the cave entrance. They'd been on top of the mountain, where the lake had existed before, to do their training out of sight of anybody watching below. Now, having returned, Sharie stared at the bare sliver of moon left in the sky.  
  
A shadow suddenly passed in front of the moon, obscuring it from view.  
  
A bitter wind picked up, and Sharie stared, surprised, as the stars began to rapidly blink out one by one, like some smothering blanket was snuffing them out of the sky.  
  
The wind grew even colder, and Sharie shivered.  
  
Five days they'd been here, and the weather, until now, had been perfect--Wasn't this unique geographical location known for it's fierce typhoons, twisters, and blizzards?  
  
At last, it seemed, the dangerous weather was beating back the perfect one that had held sway for so many days.  
  
"This storm will be a bad one. I can feel it," observed Mewtwo, coming up behind her.  
  
"Are all the pokemon here inside?" she asked, looking at him.  
  
"All accounted for. I do not need any of them blown away."  
  
A sharp, icy-cold gust interrupted them, and Sharie shivered violently with the unexpected current.  
  
Along with it came a drenching downpour blown in by the wind.  
  
Sharie truly had been caught by surprise, not used to a storm coming up so fast. It had only taken seconds! That blast had soaked her, head to foot.  
  
Mewtwo, standing beside her, also seemed similarly soaked, but he shrugged it off as she stepped backwards away from the entrance.   
  
"Storms do not bother me," he said nonchalantly. "However, I would advise you to change your clothing, lest you keep shaking like a leaf, hm?"  
  
Sharie stared at him, amazed by the edge of humor in his tone. He was more or less laughing at her!  
  
"I challenge you to go stand outside quietly for ten minutes and let this storm batter you silly," she said a bit darkly. "No using your powers to lessen the effect. Then we'll see if you feel like laughing."  
  
"It was not my fault you chose to stand so close to the entrance, *human*," he chided her, the edge of humor to his voice gone. "So you must suffer the consequences."  
  
For some reason, that made Sharie's hackles rise slightly. She stood there, soaked and shivering, her amethyst eyes the only things that seemed to be spitting fire, aimed directly at him.  
  
"I am who I am," she said in a silky, dark tone. "That I cannot help. But know this, Mewtwo--I have no fear of you." The words were blunt, but honestly spoken. Sharie's eyes challenged him as she said them. "Even with the consequences of arguing with you not exactly being in my favor."  
  
"I should say not," answered Mewtwo, in as dark a tone. The air around them seemed to dim considerably with the tension. "As I view you, far from it."  
  
To his surprise, Sharie did not deny this. She did not like what he said, but she'd always felt it was true. "I'm not perfect (heaven *knows* I am not!), neither are you. We have our differences and you will always hold my blood and my past against me, I know it."  
  
Seeing as Mewtwo made no attempt to counter the statement, she pressed on angrily. "I don't hold you being who you are against you, because it does not matter to me. It's all this looking for imperfections in life, all this abnormality where there truly is nothing significant--all this causes conflicts and trouble."  
  
Despite his anger, Mewtwo wondered at her sudden outburst. He'd never seen her act like that before, out of the blue, and it certianly ground on his nerves. He was about to retort when she suddenly blushed, and lowered her eyes while clutching her numb fingers to her arms, hugging herself for warmth.  
  
"Oh, damn," she whispered, barely audibly. "I sure am at fault for *this*, on top of it all!..."  
  
Mewtwo blinked at her, but she only raised her eyes to his, guilt in their amethyst depths, and spoke her next words through trembling lips.  
  
"I-I'm sorry," she murmured apologetically. "What the hell got into me, that I reacted like that? That's not like me....I apologize, Mewtwo. I really do. This is all my fault."  
  
The abrupt switch in her tone, and then her abrupt, very honest apology caught Mewtwo off guard. The sincere look in her eyes cut straight through to him, and from some hidden corner he could not remember, from a time long past, he found that this was one person he could not stay angry at. It was very abrupt, and he did not recognize the echoes from the past that did not let him harm her--but he reacted to it. His heart knew, and he could not stay angry, although he wondered why it happened in the first place.  
  
All of this had been a side of her he had never before seen--the temper part being the very real human part of her that he truly did not like in scientists, and the deeper wisdom that astonished him because it was a human who had it.  
  
And the ability to apologize like that, sincerely and without reservation because she truly saw him as her equal. If she had not, she would not have felt it ncessary to apologize for anything.  
  
But she had.  
  
More than any other human had done for him, on her words alone. Considering who she was, and how much he privately held it against her, it was even more amazing.  
  
Seeing this side of her in such a way made him very quiet for several seconds, staring past her and off into space, until he saw her body go an angry red with cold. She stood there impassively, staring at him, wary but unflinching, awaiting his words and acting like she did not feel the cold at all.  
  
For just a moment, he looked past her; seeing her large towel folded up beside her pack, he glowed blue for a moment, summoning the towel to wrap around Sharie unawares.  
  
She started, surprised. Again his steady gaze met with hers. All he could see in her eyes was her honest intent, and her regret for her outburst, but otherwise they were sheilded as they usually were.  
  
"You will freeze to death standing there soaking like that," he said, more gently this time.  
  
"B-but-t..." the word chattered out of her mouth, but he stopped her by placing a finger over her lips.  
  
"It is forgotten," he assured her, and actually smiled. "We all get angry for no reason sometimes--no matter who we are."  
  
Sharie, though her full red lips trembled with cold, managed a smile back. Mewtwo felt his distrust of her shrink further--just a *bit* more.  
  
****  
  
"Sharie, you're icy!" Madhea exclaimed, shocked and dismayed as Sharie sat stiffly down on the grass, well away from the entrance. The young Mewtwo had not dared come forward during the earlier tense moments, having stood by and watched in horror. Now, though, she was almost weak with her relief, even though she had no idea why Sharie had acted so un-Sharie-like.  
  
"I-i-it's c-cold out-t th-there, k-k-kiddo-o," Sharie chattered with a wan smile. "I'll b-be fi-fine."  
  
Madhea saw the blue-red hue of her skin and frowned. Even though she knew Sharie would have gotten it herself, she telekenetically summoned her friend's pack from nearby, as well as a blanket from her bedroll.  
  
"Here." she said, as it landed by Sharie. "I think you need to change."  
  
"That, and then some," Sharie agreed, even though she did not approve of Madhea doing things for her--she could have gotten that pack herself....but she knew Madhea was rebelling against this. She'd never let Madhea do anything for her, not wanting the girl to one day think that she'd been nothing but Sharie's slave. Sharie felt very strongly against this. Madhea, however, was very independent and obviously thought that doing small things for her, without being asked, were not the same thing. Sharie was wondering herself what was right and what wasn't, but one thing was clear: Madhea's stubborn, independent streak was becoming more evident as time went on.  
  
Privately, Sharie was grateful her personality was forming with such independence. It would in the future help insure that nobody ever took advantage of her.  
  
But that stubborn streak--  
  
Sharie smiled to herself. She'd not change Madhea one iota for the world.  
  
"Thank you, kiddo," she said, instead, too cold to hug the child like she wanted to do. Besides, Madhea would squeal at such a cold contact.  
  
Madhea, having no desire to get the chills herself from touching Sharie, only grinned.  
  
Stiffly Sharie hobbled up and headed towards the private nook the Nidoqueen had shown her once. It was a chink in the wall that hollowed out into a small room with a private pool of water that constantly refreshed itself from some source deep inside the mountain. Sharie had, with Mewtwo's permission, claimed this as her private domain when she did activites that her human sense demanded as private--bathing or changing clothes. Pokemon, not wearing clothing, did not have this sense of privacy about them.  
  
Sharie smiled to herself. Their idea of privacy was occassionally feeling like they needed to be alone--or when they were feeling armorous--at least the Nidoqueen and Rhyhorn. Sharie had suspected from the first that the Nidoqueen was pregnant again. In fact, she was almost due. Sharie had not noticed until she had gotten close, for with the specie's armored hide, pregnancies rarely showed, if at all, she knew.  
  
Nidoqueens also tended to keep such information to themselves until the last moment, often during labor.  
  
She wondered if Mewtwo had been astonished the last time she had given birth and had walked out trailed by a bunch of babies, if she'd given no prior indication of being pregnant....  
  
Sharie smiled at the mental image before beginning to strip the clothing from her body. She rubbed herself dry as best she could with her towel before reaching for one of her few other outfits, similar to her first--knee-length jean shorts and a button-down t-shirt tucked into them. It helped, for she'd lost weight on her journey and tucking in her shirt helped disguise the looseness around her slender waist.  
  
Her hair she did not bother to take down. It would be okay the way it was, coiled on her head. Her hands, still half-numb with cold, managed to finish clumisly buttoning her shirt. She left her sandals off her feet. She picked up her blanket and wrapped it around her shoulders before walking back out into the open.  
  
Madhea looked at her and sighed in relief. "That looks better," she remarked. "Wouldn't do to have you sick."  
  
"No," Sharie agreed. "Not with this being perfect weather for pokemon flu to run rampant. I don't want either of us as sick as you were last time."  
  
This time Madhea did not hesistate to reach up and lock her arms around Sharie's neck as Sharie picked her up and hugged her close. "No way," the little girl stated. "You're stuck with me!"  
  
Sharie chuckled and gave her a gentle squeeze.  
  
Madhea pulled back, their eyes meeting. Madhea's eyes danced, glowing with moonbeams as they did so frequently. When her intense gaze pierced Sharie like that Sharie was always reassured that whatever she had gone through for Madhea was well worth it. Madhea was the only destiny she had, until Madhea grew up.  
  
Which would be all too soon.  
  
****  
  
Outside, the storm raged on, doubling in intensity. Wave after wave of water and hail battered the mountainside, and the cold even crept in to the deep inner caverns that sheltered the group of cloned pokemon.  
  
Most of the pokemon found themseles huddled close together for warmth; something they often did when the storms got this bad. Mewtwo stayed apart from them but used his psionic powers to block the entrances into the caverns so the rain would not blow in so hard it could do serious damage.  
  
Rapidash sank down to the ground, relaxing, and whinnied at Sharie, who stood alone except for Madhea, shivering.  
  
Sharie understood, and was touched. "Only if you're sure," she answered. "I don't want to impose on you."  
  
Rapidash whinnied again and tossed her head. She was not cold at all, being a fire pokemon who knew how to generate such heat within her. It was warmth she was willing to share.  
  
For once Sharie did not need a further invitation. Madhea's fingers hooked in her belt straps of her jean shorts as she walked over to Rapidash, settling in against the fire horse with a grateful sigh. Madhea curled up beside her.  
  
"Thank you," Sharie murmured, echoed by Madhea.  
  
Rapidash neighed.  
  
"Chu!"  
  
"Meowth!"  
  
A moment later Sharie was amused to find both Pikachu and Meowth fighting for space in her lap. Ever since she'd come here, these two had become, more than any of the others, virtual little shadows, following her everywhere as if they owned her.  
  
Sharie finally lifted Meowth into her lap, where he curled up, purring. She let Pikachu nestle in the crook of her arms. With Madhea beside her, and the blanket around all four of them and curled up against a rather amused Rpaidash, they were warm at last.  
  
It brought something to Sharie's mind, something she'd forgotten. She did know how to generate inner heat, inner fire, but the move was so difficult and hard to hold for more than a few minutes, it was not worth using.  
  
Not even for psychic or fire pokemon. Fire pokemon had other ways of generating heat, and did not usually use this particular technique, anyways. It was too different.  
  
However, it could come in handy, in certain circumstances.  
  
Trying not to disturb Pikachu, she nudged Madhea with her elbow. "Madhea, I've got something to tell you about...."  
  
****  
  
Sharie was amazed at how fast Madhea picked up the trick. Madhea would never be able to hold it for more than a few minutes at a time, because the move was too hard to do and even harder to hold, but she'd learned the basic techinque with ease and only in a few minutes' time.  
  
"You'll hold that better than I can before long," Sharie marvelled approvingly. "I've never met a pokemon that could hold it for more than a few minutes, but that could save your life one day."  
  
Madhea nodded. "Can I teach that to Mewtwo?"  
  
"You don't have to get *my* permission," Sharie said, surprised. She lifted her head and stared across the caverns to where Mewtwo stood, nearby Charizard. He did not move but Sharie sensed that he was not as warm as he'd like to appear. It would take a great deal of psionic energy to artificially heat the whole cavern, even temporarily, and she knew Mewtwo would never do it unless the emergency were dire.  
  
However, this move might warm him up a little.  
  
Madhea shrugged out of her corner of the blanket. Mew, who had been keeping warm by flying briskly back and forth above them all, came down and looked at Sharie inquiringly. Sharie nodded to him and he settled in beside her, curling his tail around himself as he did so.  
  
****  
  
Madhea walked over to Mewtwo, standing beside him until he started and realized she was next to him.  
  
He did not say a word, but smiled when she gave him a sweet smile of her own, her childish charm turned on in full. She held out her hand and he took it, unable to help himself. His newfound companion was not someone he could deny.  
  
"Yes?" he asked gently.  
  
"I have something to show you," she said. "It may help keep you warm for a few minutes."  
  
"Do you think so?" he asked, faintly amused.  
  
"Of course I do," she answered, as if it were natural. "Sharie just taught it to me. You are as cold as we all are, Mewtwo. No pokemon can hold this move for more than a few minutes, but it will help."  
  
Mewtwo blinked. Sharie had taught Madhea such a move? He'd never heard of it before but it sounded like it was worth learning--at least his cold bones told him so. It was ironic tha someone so young would be teaching him, but...well, he was barely two years old himself by now....  
  
He could at least humor her if she could not show him. "All right," he agreed.  
  
She smiled and reached up her other hand. Surprised, he took it.  
  
She closed her eyes, and began to glow a bright yellow.  
  
*Let me link your mind, Mewtwo!* she suddenly sent in a private link. *It will be easier to learn this way!*  
  
For some reason, he obeyed her, understanding what she wanted him to do. Her gentle presence suddenly resonated in his mind, and she gently linked her senses to his so he could feel how she manipulated her own inner energy.  
  
Deep within her she formed a tight ball of psychic energy. Using techniques Sharie had taught her, about shattering the barriers between energy types, she changed this psychic energy into a ball of inner fire, gently expanding it until it engulfed her entire body with a warm glow.  
  
On the outside, instead of her body glowing blue, it was yellow.  
  
Mewtwo could feel her warmth inside himself as she actually lended her own energy to his, while infusing within him the knowledge of how to do this himself.   
  
Since he had little experience on manipulating the different kinds of energy she could, starting up his own was difficult for a moment. He struggled to duplicate the way she changed energy types with such ease. Patiently the essence of her mind guided him, flowing with his own energy until the tight knot of psychic power within him burst outward with the same warm glow.  
  
Sharie knew Madhea had succeeded when Mewtwo's body, unbeknownst to him, took on the same glow as Madhea's.  
  
She smiled to herself. It was such a sweet picture. And such a sweet gesture on Madhea's part, innocent though it was, was surely drawing the two closer together.  
  
It had. Sharie could see it, especially when their eyes opened and locked, the two Mewtwos simply staring at each other.  
  
Madhea smiled at him again and disengaged her hands. A red flush had come over her cheeks.  
  
"There," she whispered. "You can do it yourself now."  
  
Before he could say anything, she moved away rapidly.  
  
Mewtwo's heart was pounding in his chest so hard he could hardly bear it. Some strange feeling had overcome his senses for a moment, a feeling he'd never had before and one he could not identify. He felt like he was suffocating, almost sick--but it did not feel bad, not by a long shot!  
  
All he knew for certain was that he was damn lucky to have a companion in his life at last, a friend. Madhea did not cringe from him, or run and hide. She reached out to him, and not only offered him herself as a friend, she did things like she had done now: Taken it a step further; taken his narrow, shadowed world and filled it with light and warmth, even for only a few minutes. She did so willingly and without a second thought.  
  
The thought of this child ever leaving now was one he could not bear.  
  
The rest, which he could not identify, he left alone for now. His confused spirit would sort it out in time, he was certain.  
  
****  
  
Sharie could see that Madhea felt a little strange. Sharie knew it was no wonder; not after linking her mind with Mewtwo's in such an intimate manner as she had done. It probably had also awakened whispers of feelings in the girl's heart she did not understand nor comprehend.  
  
Of course, Sharie thought. She was too young, not ready for such things. Madhea would never become really aware of it, or understand it, until she was older. Madhea would not recognize these faint hints of what was to come, if fate played that way with her. She'd push it to the depths of her unconscious heart, where these feelings would hibernate until they were ready to be awakened. Until then, her friendship with Mewtwo was sure to blossom and fill both their worlds with the light they deserved.  
  
Sharie mentally crossed her fingers and hoped so.  
  
****  
  
A few minutes later, a whisper of pain crossed Sharie's senses. It was not her own pain, and she knew it did not come from Madhea. The essence was not one she was particularly familiar with--  
  
Another whisper of pain washed over her, and Sharie sat up, startled. Her amethyst gaze searched the vast caverns until they fixed on Nidoqueen.  
  
The large blue pokemon did not move, but Sharie could see the pain in her eyes.  
  
A third whisper of pain echoed in Sharie's head, and the Nidoqueen discreetly placed a hand on her abdomen, which, despite how far along Sharie's trained eye guessed she was, was only somewhat rounder than normal.  
  
When another contraction hit, Sharie stood up. As far along as she figured the Nidoqueen was, she sensed that her abdomen should still have been a bit more rounded before she was ready to give birth--A Nidoqueen's offspring gained weight very rapidly the final weeks before birth, during the final stretch of a 2 1/2 month pregnancy.  
  
Unless she was carrying three or less babies, this was preterm labor.  
  
However, the Nidoqueen did not seem overly panicked. Quietly she got up, Rhyhorn right behind her. They headed towards a secluded area of the caverns that was out of view of the rest. Sharie took this to mean that if it was preterm, it was still close enough that the mother had little fear of losing her babies. Otherwise she may have been more obvious in her worry.  
  
Sharie shrugged out of her blanket and quietly went to Mewtwo. Mew got up and followed along behind her as she went.  
  
Sharie said nothing explicit when Mewtwo looked her way. She only glanced backwards at the dissappearing pair of pokemon. Their other babies seemed unconcerned, and stayed where they had been.  
  
"Did you notice...?" she inquired.  
  
Mewtwo followed her gaze, and stared as the pair dissappeared from view entirely.  
  
He was quiet for many minutes, as something settled in his mind.  
  
"Only in the last few days have I had any mild suspicions," he said quietly, his mental tone low. "I was not convinced because I figured this would not happen again so soon. Their other youngsters aren't fully weaned yet. I guess this says otherwise, though."  
  
"Some Nidoqueens are more prolific than others," Sharie whispered. "And they are some of the few pokemon that nurse their babies. Their milk does not run out easily, but the older ones are going to be weaned a bit soon, I think. I think she's a little early, too."  
  
"Early?" Mewtwo stared at her, surprised and worried. "Is there any danger?"  
  
"She was not overly concerned, so I think that she's close enough she's confident there will be no trouble. I don't know for sure, since Nidoqueens are so private on matters of birth. Few humans have ever seen one give birth, even, because they just won't allow themselves to be seen. It's a very private thing for them."  
  
"So I've seen," said Mewtwo dryly. "The first time she said nothing until she came out one day, trailed by a toddling group of babies. I had never considered that any of my fellow clones would consider.....procreating."  
  
"They have feelings, too," Sharie murmured. She blushed. "Certain urges, for some, are too strong to keep under wraps. It's a part of life."  
  
*Not in my case,* Mewtwo thought to himself, but did not say so aloud. He'd heard all about it from Nurse Joy, who, under his influence, had taught him more than he wanted to know--and enough to know it wasn't for him. He surely did not have those feelings, those urges....  
  
Madhea had been listening to all this, wide-eyed. "I did not even know she was going to have more babies!" she exclaimed quietly, in awe. "With her you can't tell very well, can you?"  
  
Sharie smiled at the innocent comment. "Kiddo, your eyes are untrained to notice such things, you've not had much experience in that area," she explained patiently.  
  
"And, Miss Scientist, I'm sure you have," Madhea responded pertly, grinning.  
  
"Pokemon medicine is the area where I'm most comfortable with, little one," Sharie returned. "Pokemon prefer to be alone when giving birth, or in some cases, laying eggs, but I've had my share of helping some pokemon give birth to new life. Trust me, when you hold the end result, it's a beautiful thing."  
  
"Even after so much pain?" asked Madhea curiously.  
  
"From what I've seen, definetly so," Sharie assured her. "Definetly so."  
  
****  
  
Sharie stopped talking suddenly. Another wave of pain came across her senses, but not the whispering pain she'd been feeling before. This one was much sharper, much more painful, and it seared her before she could mentally block it.  
  
"Ah!" she squeaked. Suddenly, her face went impassive, almost trancelike. She turned around, and, without another word, walked directly towards the private niche where Nidoqueen and Rhyhorn had gone to.  
  
The sudden, empty look on her face told both Mewtwo and Madhea she was no longer really seeing anything, for she was obeying some inner urge that demanded her attention.  
  
Suddenly, an audible cry of pain echoed in the caverns, and the ground trembled slightly with a rhythmic sensation.  
  
Rhyhorn, in a full-fledged panic, came charging up into view, meeting Sharie head-on. He looked into her glazed eyes and knew that she had, somehow, subliminally understood. She could help.  
  
Automatically, without seeing anything, her eyes empty, Sharie placed her hands about his neck and swung her slender legs over his rock-hard back. He turned around and, as swiftly as possible, carried her over and out of sight.  
  
Mew came floating down just then, noticing the puzzled, concerned expressions of everyone who had watched this astonishing spectacle.  
  
"Nidoqueen is having trouble," he mewed quietly to Mewtwo and Madhea. "It appears that Sharie's perceptive abilities told her when there was trouble. She's attuned to the well-being of other pokemon in a way few are. It's a gift, but in this case, let's pray nothing is seriously wrong. I have a bad feeling about this."  
  
****  
  
And so ends chapter thirteen, on another wicked cliffhanger. Gosh, aren't I cruel? Oh, well, keeping you all on the edge of your seats for now. Wait for chapter 14, because this night is going to turn out to be a loooong one....not only because of the birth, but because of the storm doing some harm as well to a couple of new characters (well, maybe). And yes, I will eventually get to the New Island Story Arc I've been promising....but all in good time. 


	14. Birth By Storm

Disclaimer: NYMN. Chapter 14 of "Moonlight Shadows and Echoes Past." A fair warning since the PG-13 rating this story carries will come into sway here for descriptions of emergency birth. You've been warned in advance. I've tried to keep the gore to a minimum and I know that such an emergency birth in real life would entail several more people, but they are not avalible in Mt. Quena at the moment--are they? :D  
  
Moonlight Shadows and Echoes Past chapter 14  
by ZeoViolet  
****  
  
Sharie felt oddly possessed, sitting astride Rhyhorn as he went as fast as he dared to where his mate lay, only barely taking into account that she was on his back and being careful not to throw her off.  
  
The sense that something was utterly wrong, something urgently demanded her attention, had seemed to sap all of Sharie's will from her. She'd been expectant when Rhyhorn came crashing over, stopped, and had looked into her eyes as if he understood her strange, trancelike state.  
  
Like a puppet on a string, without thinking of it or considering anything else, she'd been compelled to climb on his back to get to his mate faster, the whole time not feeling quite in control but sure she was doing the right thing.  
  
Within moments, the frantic pacing beneath her sore legs--Rhyhorn's rock-hard back was not ideal for riding--slowed, and in a hidden alcove, where Nidoqueen was crouched, gasping silently in pain, Rhyhorn came to a stop, his sides heaving.   
  
Quickly Sharie slid off his back and turned to him. Her trancelike state not over yet, she placed one small hand on his head, silently communicating. Her bottomless amethyst eyes met his frantic dark ones, and silently, she reassured him she would do everything in her power to help them both, and that she would give nothing less than her all.  
  
It was to her credit that he, an overprotective clone, sincerely believed her, a human female descended of those who probably threatened them all the most. For that, Sharie was thankful.  
  
She removed her hand from his head and turned to Nidoqueen. Before she could take a step, a sharp twinge of pain rushed across her senses once more.  
  
Sharie gasped slightly, her face paling. Quickly she controlled it; not wanting Nidoqueen to see it. Sharie had helped deliver pokemon babies twice before, and she knew that was *definetly* not a pain that Nidoqueen should have felt. Not in this stage of labor.  
  
The gasping pokemon was propped up against a large boulder, as upright as she could manage. She was shaking all over, her forehead was misty with persperation, and she shivered, not just with the pains racking her body. Her chest heaved for air it did not seem to get.  
  
The pain in her brown eyes was great, and when she saw Sharie standing silently beside her, a mixture of relief and desperation entered them.  
  
Nidoqueen gave a low growl, which registered in Sharie's ears as panic and pleading.  
  
"I will do what I can," Sharie reassured her softly, her voice subtly switching languages to comfort the mother as best she could. "We will get through this together. Will you trust me?"  
  
Nidoqueen managed a small nod before another tearing contraction ripped through her midsection. Sharie had to fight hard not to wince with her. Somehow, her senses had automatically tuned into Nidoqueen's so finely she was aware of every wave of pain as if it were her own. This was not the first time she'd experienced this, expecially with an expectant mother, but Sharie could not recall it being this intense.  
  
"Sh, relax," she soothed in a soft voice to the straining pokemon. Gently her fingers pressed against Nidoqueen's temples in a rhythmic, soothing motion, a form of pokemon massage she'd learned how to do long ago. "Do not fight the pain, flow with it."  
  
Sharie took a deep breath as she considered where to begin. This labor was not going typically, that was for sure. The violent surges of pain ripping through Nidoqueen was probably due to two sources--one, her labor was going too fast; and two, the pain was not typical of a contraction. Something else had to be adding onto the pain she was already experiencing due to contractions.  
  
For any living being that gave birth, labors that come on too quickly could, in rare cases, do serious damage to the mother, and any pain that was not a normal part of labor also was worth looking into. It was rare, since labors could be extremely fast and do no damage at all, but Sharie had a sinking feeling this was one of those infrequent exceptions.  
  
Gently Sharie placed both hands on Nidoqueen's slightly rounded abdomen, then pressed firmly in an attempt to sense the placement of each baby.  
  
With a Nidoqueen's hard armor-like skin, this was not easy. Her skin was tough enough that it had even impeded most of the swelling that most other creatures would experience in the uterus as a result of pregancy. Nidoqueen's uterus had expanded more upwards than outwards.  
  
Sharie's sensetive fingers pressed firmly against the gentle swelling, gathering what information she could from her sense of touch. She also lowered her mental sheilds a little to see if she could sense the bare essences of the life beneath her fingertips.  
  
Near the top she sensed two, nestled in their designated spots, curled in quite a confining space. From their placement and the size of the uterus, Sharie guessed they were almost mature enough for full-term, but not quite. She'd been right about this being preterm labor.  
  
Sharie frowned as another contraction ripped through NIdoqueen, and the essences of each baby twitched in her mind, mixing in with the agony that also tore across her senses. It was hard enough Sharie flinched slightly, unable to help it. That was not a good sign; it meant that the labors were placing undue strain on the babies. Sharie had to fight hard not to show that she felt each baby react to the contraction with a vague sense of suffering. Above all, she must not frighten the mother.  
  
Sharie moved her hands lower; encountering two more essences. Just barely beneath her fingers she could feel fluttering movements, a good reassurance. But another contraction heaved through their mother and again, Sharie felt the essences twich and tremor in her mind. She shut her mouth hard, and a flash of unwanted memory creeped into her mind for a split second--she recalled how Madhea had struggled this way so desperately, fighting to stay alive in the tank she'd been floating in, all alone.   
  
Just as swiftly, Sharie banished the thought from her mind, amazed it had even come up. Never before had she let anything distract her when doing something like this. It was completely unprofessional and her own feelings were beside the point.  
  
She went on with her examination.  
  
It was when she shifted her hands to near the bottom of the mother's abodmen, near the birth canal, that Sharie got truly concerned. The skin around her lips tightened imperceptibly, to the point where even Nidoqueen noticed.  
  
Even between contractions, Their essences were fuzzing in and out of her mind, almost frantically. They were laying so close together and the sense of distress emenating from them both was so obvious that Sharie sensed an immediate cause to all of this--they were probably entangled by their own cords. Maybe even together.  
  
And together, they were positioned right over the birth canal. Maybe even blocking it. Two babies could not pass down it at once.  
  
Sharie could not even feel them moving. Their essences were barely there. She could tell no more without lowering her sheilds further, but she did not need to. She did need her equiptment.  
  
Sharie, without moving, sent a quick telepathic thought to Madhea.  
  
*Madhea, please, I need my medical equipment. Bring Mewtwo as well, as quickly as you can. Hurry, please!*  
  
She sensed a silent acknowledgement. The girl did not question her at all. Sharie hoped she'd not sounded like she was giving a flat order. It had been a plea.  
  
This was trouble.  
  
****  
  
Sharie turned her focus back to the anxious, worried mother.  
  
"I think I have an idea of the problem," she said softly. "I must scan you to be sure, though. You must lie down, on your side."  
  
Nidoqueen nodded assent at once. The level look in Sharie's eyes, as well as the calm reassurance she was trying to project, told her well that Sharie knew what she was doing.  
  
Rhyhorn came up and nuzzled his mate on the head as she lay there on the grass, gasping with another contraction.  
  
Sharie pressed her hands against the lower uterine wall again. Laying down had taken some of the pressure off the two babies at the bottom, but it would not help nor hold for long. However, something else whispered across her consciousness for a moment, something she could not quite define.  
  
It was one thing that did not feel alarming, and it made her lips twitch, though she did not know why.  
  
"Here is one thing I can tell you that probably is not bad," she said quietly. "I sense one of your children will be different. How, I do not know. It is just something I feel."  
  
They looked at her, surprised for a moment. Then, suddenly, Nidoqueen nodded. "I had a feeling," she wheezed faintly. "One of....of them was not like the...others. I've been worried."  
  
"Worrying will not help here," said Sharie. Vaguely she sensed Mewtwo and Madhea arriving by teleportation. "Different or not, I am sure you would love the child as you love the others, don't you? Even as clones, you are all unique, with your own hearts and souls. Nobody can copy those. Remember that."  
  
Nidoqueen, gasping through another contraction, managed a weak smile.  
  
****  
  
"How is she?" asked Mewtwo as soon as he came over, Madhea clutching one of his hands and dragging Sharie's pack with the other.  
  
"I have a good idea of the problem but I want to run a scan to be sure," said Sharie quietly. The forbidding look in her eyes kept both Mewtwos from asking questions.  
  
Without another word she pulled one of her scanners out of her pack and went back to Nidoqueen. The weary mother made no objection when Sharie passed it over her, displaying vital signs of each baby.  
  
Once Sharie interpreted the readings, a bleakness entered her soul, something she tried not to show on her face. But when she turned to Nidoqeen, the unreadable void in her eyes betrayed what she was trying to conceal.  
  
"I will not hide the truth from you," she told the mother as calmly as she could. "Your babies are in danger."  
  
A look of shocked panic entered Nidoqueen's eyes, and a low, faint whine escaped her mouth as she struggled to sit up.  
  
Gently Sharie touched her shoulders. To her own surprise, the one touch stilled the mother at once.  
  
"The two babies nearest the birth canal have their cords entangled. Not only around themselves, but each other, in a rather big mess. Each time you have a contraction it worsens the strain on them."  
  
Nidoqueen made another low wailing sound of distress.  
  
"I know you could not help going into preterm labor," Sharie told her softly. "But there may be a chance for them if I act quickly. Your labor was fortunate to start now, because had you gone to term they would not have made it, since by then it would have been too late for them."  
  
Mewtwo had been listening to everything, and he was rather horrified at the mental picture Sharie's descrption rendered in his mind. "Can they be untangled?"  
  
"The babies are lying transverse across the canal, both of them. and the tangling's too hard, I could not do it manually. The way they are no baby can be born, so all babies are in danger. To have a chance at saving them I must act quickly. Each contraction she has makes the problem worse for all."  
  
"What do you need to do?" Asked Mewtwo quietly.  
  
"I must perform a ceserean section. Here. Now."  
  
"A....what?" gasped Madhea, surprised. "Cut her open?"  
  
Rhyhorn made a grunt of disapproval and Mewtwo had to ask, "Is that truly necessary?"  
  
Sharie could not help wonder why they were questioning this. Most likely it was the thought that the mother would be subjected to such major abdominal surgery on such a short notice. The fact also of who was doing it, her, would also be enough for him to raise doubts, even as much trust as he'd shown in her lately. But this danger was not an everyday occurence, so she could not blame him.  
  
When Sharie raised her eyes to Mewtwo's, however, his doubt instantly vanished when he saw the dark nuances of desperation flashing in them, telling him the risks before she even said it, and the silent pleading for him to understand.  
  
"Yes. Otherwise all babies will die in utero sooner than later." Sharie did not add that if this happened, the mother would die as well.  
  
Sharie turned to the mother. "Do you understand?" she asked softly, stroking her forehead gently. "I cannot force you. But there is nothing else that can be tried."  
  
Nidoqueen began speaking in harsh, clipped syllables. "Do it. The lives of my children are at stake. How can I settle for less?"  
  
She reached up and laid a hand on Sharie's shoulder heavily. "Please, save them," she wheezed with increasing difficulty. The pain showing in her eyes was not not from labor, but from emotional agony. The thought of losing even one baby was one she could not stand, and it showed. "Save my babies. You *must* save my babies! Please..."  
  
Sharie could not hide the mistiness that entered her eyes, nor could she speak without revealing the lump in her throat at such a desperate plea. "I will do my best," she said softly. "I swear it!"  
  
****  
  
So it was settled.  
  
"Can you perform it safely?" Mewtwo asked quietly to Sharie as she got up and went back to her pack. The caverns inside Mt. Quena were hardly the place to be performing major surgery, but he understood now there were no alternatives.  
  
"The only place where I'd be confidence of oomplete safety is at a pokemon center. But there's none nearby and I know you don't want to risk it. The environment here is a clean one. I have medical supplies for emergency birth. She trusts me to do this to her, but I need your trust and everyone else involved in this, too. I am only human. There is the risk of something going wrong, or of unexpected complications arising, and I want that understood. I am versed in the art of performing a c-section on a pokemon; however I have never done this before."  
  
He had doubted her earlier, and now her eyes, turned to him, showed her silent pleading for him not to waver now.  
  
"I think we all understand that," he answered seriously. What he could see in her eyes, to his surprise, made him feel rather ashamed. Sharie did not seem to be the type to callously toy with life. "I believe that in you by now. You would not give less than your all, but we also must not expect more of you than you are capeable of giving. It goes both ways. It is a risk we are all willing to face."  
  
She stopped, surprised, and looked at him for a moment. The shadows in her eyes lightened for an instant, and her lips quirked upwards for a brief second in gratitude. Even though she'd never done a ceserean before on a live pokemon, and had only done a few births prior to this, they were willing to trust her.  
  
Humans at any pokemon birth were a rare thing in itself, and few versed in pokemon medicine had ever guided a pokemon through labor. This fact also made it all the more startling that they trusted her.  
  
Without another word, she prepared for the surgery.  
  
****  
  
The first thing she did was take out a hypospray.   
  
"It's a local anesthetic," she explained quietly to the mother. "You will be conscious for the birth but you will not feel anything from the chest down."  
  
"No," she answered weakly, and her eyes twinkled. "I do not think I'd want to feel that."  
  
Sharie smiled and placed a hand on her forehead. "I thought not. You will not feel any more pain from the contractions, either."  
  
Privately, she was grateful for Nidoqueen's bravery. For some reason, her own insides were quaking like a leaf. She had no idea why this was bothering her so; mabye because she'd never handled a birth with such an emergency behind it?  
  
She ignored it, taking out a small thin tube. She pressed a small button on the side and it automatically stretched out several feet long.   
  
Sharie held this over Nidoqueen, at chest level, and warned the mother not to move. She pressed another small button and the ends of the tube almost magically formed new lengths, downwards to the ground. Small tripod feet kept it standing. a thin but opaque blanket rolled down from the top, over her chest and obscuring her vew of the rest of her body.  
  
Sharie saw her questioning look as she quickly spread another equally thin blanket over her legs, leaving her abdomen exposed.  
  
"Do you really want to see yourself operated on?" she responded. "It is not done for the simple fact that in a large number of cases, if something like this is seen, creates a lot of problems, not just for the doctor."  
  
Nidoqueen saw her point.  
  
Sharie moved swiftly, for time was of the essence. She kept Nidoqeen on her side to make this easier.....Nidoqueen physiology was just that way.  
  
Nidoqueen's physical makeup also would have her making the incision high on the abdomen instead of low, near the birth canal as she'd do for most other pokemon or humans. The muscles down there were one of Nidoqueen's vulnerable spots, heavy with arteries and delicate muscles. Cutting into them so low could cause the mother to bleed to death too fast, even with rapid-healing medications like Full Restore or Max Potion, or clotting agents meant to slow blood flow during surgery.  
  
Sharie pressed a hypo full of medication directiy into Nidoqueen's abdominal area for just such a purpose, so she would lose little but natural birth blood when the incision was made.  
  
A tiny package yeilded a thin plastic gown which Sharie donned quickly, as well as a pair of gloves. Sharie thoroughly scrubbed her hands to her elbows, and scrubbed sanitizer on her hands before putting them on.  
  
The same germ-killing substance she spread liberally over Nidoqueen's abdominal area. The pokemon, now calmer, did not move nor flinch, telling Sharie she'd felt nothing and that the anesthetic was in full effect.  
  
Sharie cast a quick glance around her. Madhea, recalling the medical procedures Sharie had been teaching her, had unobtrusively set out absorbent disposable cloths and the tools in her pack that let her do this job. The look of thankfulness in Sharie's eyes was reward enough for the little girl.  
  
Sharie turned to Mewtwo. "I am ready," she said quietly. "I must be sure that nobody else comes and disturbs us. This is critcal and I must move quickly."  
  
Mewtwo nodded his understanding. "Mew is standing watch. Sharie....good luck."  
  
It was not something he was used to doing, but he gave her what he hoped was an encouraging smile. He understood the strain she was under because she'd never put what she'd learned into practice before, not something like this. And yet, for some reason, he knew his trust in her was not misplaced. He somehow understood she would only give her best, and he hoped it turned out all right.  
  
****  
  
"If the sight of blood bothers you, then maybe you should leave," Sharie quietly warned the worried father. "I don't want you to faint and distress your mate."  
  
Rhyhorn shook his head. "I did not the last time she gave birth," he retorted. "I will be fine."  
  
"Then so be it. Stay with her up there and encourage her, keep her calm."  
  
She looked down at Nidoqueen, who's eyes, filled with sudden fear, matched Sharie's quaking insides. "Are you ready?"  
  
Nidoqueen nodded, trying to slow her pounding heart. She moved the pile of cloths nearby to reach for at a moment's notice, and then picked up a special instrument.  
  
It was a laser scalpel. Sharie was not about to take a knife to a ground-type pokemon. The skin would dull the knife's edge, and she could make a fatal slip if that happened. Besides, lasers were much cleaner, more delicate and precise, and the damage they did along the way was less intense.  
  
"I am making the incision," she said quietly.  
  
There was sudden silence in the air, a breathless pause. The only sound was the faint hum of the scalpal as Sharie turned it on.  
  
Sharie measured the incision site with her eyes. It was just above Nidoqueen's midsection, above where the two babies highest in her womb lay nestled.  
  
With a swift, clean move, Sharie directed the laser beam across the abdomen in one motion.  
  
There was a small gush of red fluid, but the inhibitors worked their magic. Nidoqueen's womb had been tight against the surface of the abdominal skin, and was now visible. Sharie made one more quick incision, being careful to time it perfectly.  
  
The clean motion and lack of serious bleeding told her she'd succeeded.  
  
She quietly laid the scalpel aside. That had been the easy part.  
  
This was where her insides, frozen with fear, really began to shake, and Sharie was ashamed of herself for feeling such nervousness. Concentrating on not showing this, while performing surgery, was extremely difficult.  
  
With great care, Sharie reached inside for where she sensed the first baby lay.  
  
She'd barely entered Nidoqueen's body when she encountered a rock-hard surface, of a very small size that would fit perfectly into two of her hands. The small life twitched in surprise at her unexpected touch. Despite being almost frozen with fear, Sharie felt a surge of relief to feel the baby alive. She used both hands to delicately extract the small body from it's mother's womb and lifted it free, into the light.  
  
A surprised squeak of outrage could be heard echoing along the cavern walls.  
  
"I've got him," Sharie was suddenly smiling, feeling a temporary twinge of relief.. "It's a baby Rhyhorn. A fine boy."  
  
Rhyhorn's eyes began to mist over with sudden tears as he looked at his son in Sharie's arms. Nidoqueen made a small whining sound that was a mixture of relief and longing, for her son was alive. Sharie held up the child for a moment for both parents to get a better look.  
  
The surprised baby let out another outraged bellow, thrashing in her hands and creating quite a fuss. Quickly Sharie reached for an abosrbent cloth and wiped some of the mess from him, and reached for a clamp. She put this on his umbilical cord before swiftly cutting him off from his mother.  
  
For him, it was over. He was a living, breathing being. Despite his prematurity, Sharie knew he would survive.  
  
Madhea sensed her part. Sharie swiftly wrapped the little one up and let the young Mewtwo take him. Madhea was still the size of a small child yet, and the baby Rhyhorn, who'd fitted neatly in Sharie's palms, filled her arms full.  
  
*I will need your help,* Sharie told her quietly in telepathy. *After each one is born I need someone to watch them. This is not a typical birth so I cannot afford the parents to be distracted with a baby who's not being cared for--okay?*  
  
Madhea nodded her assent, and Sharie gave her a grateful smile.  
  
The young Mewtwo had been watching all of this in stunned awe, and now she stared at the baby Rhyhorn in wonder. Sharie had been right! This, then, was the miracle of birth--and the end result was well worth it!  
  
He had stopped fussing and was now watching her with wide, innocent eyes, probably frankely wondering who she was. She was fascinated beyond belief.  
  
Sharie wished she had time for such indlugence. But as soon as she had handed the baby to Madhea she moved back to the mother. Again, before her eyes flashed the image of Madhea struggling for life inside her artificial womb that had been her world, and how it had also almost become her grave. Sharie had to fight against such mental images. Each time she saw them raw emotion twisted like a sharp knife in her chest. She could not afford to remember now, not here. Not like this. She had no idea what the hell was wrong with her but she could not dwell on it. She took a deep breath and moved her hands inside Nidoqueen's body again, feeling around for another baby.  
  
Again, almost instantly, she found what she was looking for. Another small, wiggling, and rock-hard body almost moved into her hands, as if desperate to be released from this dark prison that had been making it suffer. Quickly Sharie extracted it from it's confines, lifting it free and out into the world.  
  
It jerked in surprise at the sudden light, and gave a squeal of protest when she thumped a tiny foot to make it start breathing.  
  
"It's another Rhyhorn," she announced to the anxious parents. "A girl."  
  
She briefly held it up, and both parents looked surprised and delighted. In the last litter all the Rhyhorns had been boys. The baby Nidoqueens could have been nothing but female. This was their first Rhyhorn daughter.  
  
Quickly Sharie clamped and cut the cord, and wiped as much birth blood off the baby as she could swiftly do. The baby stopped wailing and opened her eyes, and for a split second Sharie's hands wavered. She remembered Madhea staring at her with such wonder, when she'd taken her first glimpses of the world. Sharie smiled indulgently at the baby before wrapping her up and handing her to Madhea.  
  
With more room, and the mother on her back, the babies left in the mother had moved upwards in her body. Sharie had no trouble encountering another baby when she reached in this time.  
  
The contours of the body were different than before, she could tell that right off, altough just as small. Quickly Sharie lifted it up and out of it's warm wet world and into a new place, a new life.  
  
The higher-pitched squeak rang out before Sharie could say anything, but she did anyway. "A girl. A baby Nidoqueen."  
  
She held up the tiny, perfectly-formed infant for the relieved parents to view. Sharie, too, was sliently amazed that Nidoqueen had for the second time surprised nature by bearing fully-evolved offspring when it should have been impossible.  
  
But no less miraculous. The baby stopped crying as she was cleaned and her cord was cut. Her eyes opened, giving Sharie the same stare as her sister Rhyhorn had done, a mixture of frank curiosity and the deep wisdom most pokemon seemed to have hidden in the depths of their souls, a wisdom few humans were aware of.  
  
"Welcome to the world, little one," she could not help but whisper. "Your parents have been waiting a long while to meet you."  
  
Sharie could've sworn she saw a tiny baby smile cross the young Nidoqueen's face before she was handed to a bemused Madhea, sitting nearby with all the other babies lined up beside her now.  
  
Mewtwo, who had a strange look in his eyes Sharie alone could see, was standing protectively over the whole group, guarding them carefully. Sharie could not read that look in his eyes very well, but to her own surprise what she could see was a mixture of deep awe, and even deeper confusion.  
  
It made her wonder, but she had no time to dwell on it. All she knew for certain was that he was witnessing natural birth for the first time and was reacting to it in his own way, she supposed.  
  
She turned back to Nidoqueen, reaching swiftly inside the mother's body, finding and extracting the fourth baby. Her fingers acted used to this by now, but the iciness splashing her insides only increased. *Why* was she so afraid?  
  
She held up the small gray body she'd lifted from his mother's womb. "Another baby Rhyhorn," she announced softly. "A sturdy son."  
  
Strangely, this one did not cry. He was breathing well, she'd heard his first gasp of air, but his eyes were too busy taking in the world around him to think about something like crying. His wide-eyed newborn awareness made Sharie shake her head at him in wonder as she cleaned him up and cut the cord. He continued to stare around him as he was handed to Madhea to be looked after.  
  
****  
  
Sharie did not have to look at a clock to be aware of how much time had passed. Only a few minutes had elapsed since she'd pulled the first baby free of his mother's body. She now faced the hardest part of the cesearean section, the two babies that need attending to the most.  
  
Sharie was amazed to suddenly feel her hands go icy with cold. The feeling of fear that had crept steadily up her spine fought now to explode in her brain and panic her senses. She did not dare allow this to happen. But a forbidding sense was also creeping into her consciousness, a mental warning. It terrified her but also heightened her determination. Precognition was not a psychic gift of hers, but if this was an exception.....  
  
A distinct howling entered her ears, and along with it came the sharp booming sound of thunder. The storm raging outside had jumped sharply in intensity, as if sensing what was brewing below.  
  
Sharie felt a cold draft, and she quickly glanced at Mewtwo.  
  
He understood without her saying a word. His eyes flashed icy blue for a moment, and she realized he'd doubled the intensity of the psionic barriers covering all entrances into the caverns, so nothing from the outside could penetrate.  
  
Sharie shot him a quick, grateful glance, before turning back to the mother. Nidoqueen was not unaware of her taking a deep breath to steady herself for the difficult task ahead.  
  
She reached into Nidoqueen's body once more, her hands quickly encountering the last two infants.  
  
It was true, what she'd felt--one of them had it's cord wrapped tightly around itself and the other. As gently as she could, desperately trying not to tear anything, Sharie worked to unloop one body from the other.  
  
With the first gentle tug, nothing happened, and Sharie felt a flash of something akin to panic.   
  
It was some strange mercy that did not let the panicky feeling control her senses; in fact, Sharie was surprised to realize that for once the feeling was a blessing in disguise. It only heightened her awareness of each tiny life and the placement of the cords.  
  
Her next tug gently unlooped one of the loops. Encouraged, she hooked her small fingers around the cord and unlooped it again.  
  
With the first of the two babies almost free, she became aware of something. One of them was markedly smaller than the other, and felt....different. Distinctly different. Worry flashed in her eyes before she could stop it.  
  
At last Sharie freed the cord of the first baby, and carefully extracted the baby from it's mate and lifted it free of the confines of its dark world.  
  
As soon as she saw what she held in her hands, Sharie's surprised gasp escaped her lips before she could curtail it.  
  
The baby was different, all right.  
  
It was small and female, but different.  
  
A baby Nidoran female.  
  
Unevolved.  
  
****  
  
"Oh, gods," Sharie whispered in astonishment. Nobody had expected this; not when all babies before had been either Rhyhorn or Nidoqueen. Some mysteries of nature were just bound to remain intact.  
  
The tiny baby's movements were sluggish, and suddenly Sharie noticed the tiny chest quivering, as if unable to draw her own breath for herself. The light blue color of her skin was too pale, evidence of how she'd suffered and nearly strangled. The silence, where a baby's first cry should have echoed instead, was palpable and jolted with silent, frantic electricity. Again, deja vu almost froze Sharie in her tracks. Sharie recalled Madhea struggling in a similar fashion, and the memory spurred her into reacting.   
  
It was total instinct that made one of her hands thump a tiny foot and massage a delicate chest at the same time. The baby barely reacted, and it's first breath was quivery, a faint squeak at most. Very tiny, high-pitched squeaks could be heard, though, after this, rising in pitch and stretngth and reassuring her the baby was all right.  
  
Only then did she dare lift the child up to her frantic parents.  
  
"It's a girl," she said unnecessarily. "She'll be okay now."  
  
A mixture of relief and shocked surpise showed in the eyes of both Rhyhorn and Nidoqueen; clearly this was not something they were expecting--not a baby Nidoran female.  
  
Sharie, though, was smiling through her fear. "You and I both sensed one was different," she said. "There was no real problem there. She's healthy and perfect the way she is."  
  
A warm glow of understanding entered Nidoqueen's eyes, and Rhyhorn nuzzled her in assent. Nidoqueen let out a small, high-pitched noise, and her new daughter stopped wailing and listened. She paused for a moment, then emitted her own high-pitched squeak, the same as her mother had done.  
  
Sharie, relieved at the moment, clamped the cord of the newborn pokemon and cut it, swiftly cleaning her and handing her to Madhea to place with the others.  
  
So far, it had gone quite well.  
  
What happened next, though, shattered that scene.  
  
****  
  
Just as Sharie handed the baby Nidoran female to Madhea, something very sudden, and very awful, flashed across her senses.  
  
She'd never lost her awareness of the last baby still in it's mother. In her mind it had been a warm essence, though very weak as Sharie had fought to remove all the babies to get to it.  
  
Now, quite suddenly, it flickered in her mind, sputtering like a small flame being drizzled with water.  
  
Sharie gasped aloud; it was such a shockwave in her mind she was unable to curtail it. Like a dying bulb she felt the essence begin to dim in her conscious awareness, to sputter further and threatening to go out altogether.  
  
Nidoqueen did not see the frantic look on her face, but she heard Sharie's gasp. Rhyhorn *did* see the fear in Sharie's eyes and understood the silent message: their last child was in grave danger.  
  
Sharie wasted no time. She'd felt Madhea fade from her awareness that day, the day she'd almost died before her first breath could be taken. The wounds from such a memory were still too raw in her mind.  
  
She quickly, but gently, pushed her hands back into the mother's body to extract the last baby before it was too late.  
  
Her fingers quickly found the child, but also a tangled mess of cord. Her fingers traced it rapidly and found it looped around the infant's body once--then twice.  
  
And finally, a third time. Tightly.  
  
And around the little one's neck.  
  
Sharie's lips tightened as her fear threatened to paralyze her, something she could not afford to do!  
  
The baby's awareness in her mind dimmed further, and the body of the small child did not react to her touch at all. She lay in there, limp as a rag doll and her struggles ceasing.  
  
*No!*  
  
The word exploded in Sharie's mind. No! Not again! The memories of Madhea and that day of horror overwhelmed Sharie's mind utterly. Why was it happening again to an innocent baby! Why?  
  
For whatever reason why, she'd not let it happen! No child deserved to die because it was a clone or the child of a clone. The child would not die while Madhea had lived.  
  
Sharie felt a faint flash in her senses, and along with it came a surge of new determination. Her fingers seemed to work without her thinking, tugging the cord free of the little throat and unlooping it from the rest of the body. As quickly as she dared she extrackted the child from it's mother's body, lifting it free and into the light.  
  
"A baby Nidoqueen," she whispered hoarsely. "A girl."  
  
Sharie quickly thumped one of the tiny feet and massaged the chest, encouraging a first breath.  
  
The awful silence in the alcove only thickened as the baby made no response. To Sharie's total horror, instead, the bare flickers of life in her mind suddenly snapped utterly, leaving a cold, empty void.  
  
Madhea, too, watched this in horror. The painful flashes of memory her heart sensed in Sharie's mind also flashed in hers. Oh, gods, that awful day, when she'd felt herself on the brink of death and only the sheer determination of a stranger, a human female, had made her live.  
  
"Oh, *gods*, no!" Sharie breathed, her terror by now very real. All that she'd been sensing, all her uneasiness, had led up to this moment. Something about her power had actually known this would happen before she herself knew.  
  
Her eyes burned, and a lump filled her throat. Quickly, frantically, she looked upwards as she clamped and cut the cord, looking past Nidoqueen to the boulder she'd been leaning against originally. Instinct took over Sharie's body as she stood up and walked around the horrified parents. She did not mean to but they could clearly see the limp child in her arms, more or less dead.  
  
Sharie was consumed by memories of the past, the horror she had gone through with Madhea replaying in her mind again and again. Strangely, some essence seemed to take hold of her hands and body, fuled by her determination to do *something* to make the child live again. This child would *not* die when Madhea had, despite incredible odds, managed to survive.  
  
She laid the baby Nidoqueen on the boulder, one of her hands slipping behind the tiny neck and lifting it. Her other hand swiped the baby's mouth free of debris.  
  
Sharie bent and sealed her lips over the baby's muzzle, blowing in a gentle breath of air and inflating the tiny lungs for the first time herself--just as she'd done with Madhea that day.  
  
Next she placed two hands on the baby's tiny chest and compressed twice, stimulating the heart to work. She blew another gentle breath and pressed the chest twice more.  
  
The strain in the air around her increased further, and Sharie felt the same hopelessness threatening to creep in as she'd felt when Madhea had lay there just as limply. But her heart refused to give up.  
  
Suddenly Sharie noticed one tiny arm twitch, a muscle spasm. It was enough for Sharie. A flash of dark hope flooded through her, she blew into the baby's mouth once more, followed by two more quick chest compressions.  
  
The child jerked her head and gave a sudden cough. She gasped as she drew in a quivery lungful of air and gave a tiny squeak.   
  
Beneath her fingertips, Sharie could feel the tiny heart start up of it's own accord and begin to thrum with a life of it's own. A smile lit up her face as realization dawned on her.  
  
The crying squeaks came louder, more lustily now. The emptiness in Sharie's head and heart, from where her awareness of the baby had died, now resurged with a new strength. Sharie's eyes brimed with tears that did not fall, and she spoke past a lump in her throat as she announced quietly, "Your daughter will live. She's okay now."  
  
She carried the baby over to her relieved parents. Tears were seeping out of the corners of Nidoqueen's eyes, and the low wail she gave was thick with a gratitude she could not describe. Rhyhorn's eyes were similarly wet with a weak relief. Their child would live.  
  
"I did nothing but what had to be done," Sharie answered quietly to Nidoqueen's wailing sound. "She is alive, and....Oh, gods, look at this!"  
  
For the first time, everyone noticed what was so unusual about this little one as Sharie cleaned her off where the parents could see her.  
  
The baby Nidoqueen was a pink-purple color, not blue as her kind normally should have been. As she continued to cry, the rosy color only became more evident.  
  
"I'll be damned," Sharie breathed, astonished all over again. "An alternately-colored Nidoqueen! If that doesn't beat all!"  
  
The baby opened wide eyes and looked at her, wondering what all the commotion was about.  
  
"It just means she's special," Sharie asserted, laying the child down beside her mother who, delighted, inspected her all over with her eyes and muzzle. "As special as any other creature with a soul. A special gift that nobody can duplicate, and is ours alone."  
  
The rosy-colored Nidoqueen gave a sudden squeak, as if annoucing to all she agreed. It made Sharie suddenly laugh aloud, her fear gone and her body warm once more.  
  
****  
  
My goodness, that was *not* an easy piece of writng, I tell you! Watch out for chapter 15! 


	15. A Dragon's Glare

Legal Disclaimer: NYMN. *Displays empty pockets* Me no have money. Please don't sue. My intents are good, honest!!!  
  
Of Moonlight Shadows and Echoes Past, chapter 15 By ZeoViolet  
  
****  
  
After the mother Nidoqueen was assured her youngest child was all right, Sharie finished cleaning the unusually-colored baby up. She sincerely hoped nobody noticed how badly she was quaking while doing so. Her fingers were no longer numb, but the inner turmoil she'd been fighting so hard to hold back, away from their view, was getting harder and harder to control.  
  
Madhea!  
  
All during this ordeal, before her eyes teased the maddening image of Madhea, dying, before she had even taken her first breath! The near death of the baby Nidoqueen had forced back those painful memories to dance in front of her eyes to the point Sharie was sure her heart would rip into shreds. Not far behind them had been the images of what had followed three days later, when the illness she had been born with had almost taken her then, too, had it not been for a strange twist of fate Sharie still did not understand the source of.  
  
She did not know how she had managed to save the baby Nidoqueen. All she could recall was the pain, and it fueling her determination that it would not happen to another innocent life, not while Madhea had lived. Some unseen force had seemed to guide her hands, and led to the saving of the wriggling, warm life nestled in the crook of her arm now.  
  
Sharie was also privately outraged at her own inability to keep it under control. How could she have acted so unprofessionally? No doctor allowed their emotions to get the better of them in such life-and-death situations. They could not afford to! She never had before, not like this! She could have been so blinded by her emotions she could've made a critical mistake.  
  
Instead, it had only heightened her senses and made her perform faultlessly, and for that, Sharie privately said a prayer of gratitude.  
  
It did not occur to think that such an ability might very well be considered an important skill instead. Many other pokemon doctors might have considered such an ability to feel for their pokemon, while not letting their judgements get clouded in the process, a sign of good empathy and fellowship.  
  
Mew, who'd been floating quietly nearby during the worst of this terrible ordeal, recognized what he saw. Her distress had been a help, not a hinderance, but it had been caused by still-recent memories. In time, Mew could only muse sadly, the wounds would heal themselves. Her distress wasn't unprofessional; her empathy meant she cared deeply on what happened to other living creatures.  
  
So despite Sharie's personal doubts now, Mew knew that, no matter what she felt, she would always perform with her best ability. But how could he tell her this, and have her believe him?  
  
"Mew." Mew did not get in the way, but he did float down to her shoulder for a moment. Sharie looked at him and smiled, and for the moment, he sensed her inner quaking ease a fraction. He wound his long, thin tail around her neck lightly and pressed the end of it against her forehead posessively, and nuzzled her cheek with his, clearly reassuring her and sliently telling her he was proud of her.  
  
*Mew,* she heard in her mind, *Mew, mew, mew-mew.*  
  
A shudder ran through Sharie, very quickly and suddenly, and for a very different reason. Her eyes widened as she comprehended what he said.  
  
*Thank you, Mew,* was her unspoken message she sent in return, showing in her eyes. She knew now. Mew had seen, but had not condemned.  
  
Did it really simply mean her empathy with pokemon was in the right place, like he said? Not a hinderance, but a help? She did not know, but she felt just a little better about how she had acted now, if it did not ease the pain of what was dancing in front of her eyes.  
  
Mew unwound his tail from her neck and shocked her by kissing her cheek lightly before floating off, giggling, at how her face turned bright red.  
  
He could not help her with her pain concerning Madhea, but now she could rest easy knowing her "professionalism" hadn't been hindered, after all.  
  
****  
  
Sharie's face burned as she turned back to Nidoqueen, making sure all of the afterbirth had been removed. Both parents had seen Mew's gesture and were clearly amused. Madhea, Pikachu, and the older baby Nidoqueen and Rhyhorn had also kissed her cheeks often, and Meowth would lick her cheeks goodnight before he purred off to sleep, but when Mew had done so it looked so cutesy it inspired the "awww" factor heavily.  
  
Madhea giggled at her briefly before turning her attention back to the newborns beside her. The young pokemon's heart had been reacting to Sharie's pain, and she was glad Mew had broken through for a moment.  
  
Seeing her sit there, carefully guarding the new babies, was an inviting picture.  
  
*At least she's alive to experience this,* came the unbidden thought to Sharie's mind, and suddenly, her heart twinged all over again. Gods! Couldn't she forget it?  
  
Sharie swallowed it back once more and turned her attention back to Nidoqueen, using sealant to close her wounds and making the mother drink first Full Restore mixed with herbs to help her heal, and then Clarity Lake's waters to ensure the process. She would be fine in a very short while; and would not even scar.  
  
"But do not get pregnant again for at least a couple of years," Sharie warned the parents quietly. "Two pregnancies so soon together and such a traumatic labor were too hard on your system. I've healed the damage, but not even Clarity Lake can prevent the fact your uterus will have a certain frailness for awhile. Not even the waters can help with certain bilogical functions or the consequences of those functions fully."  
  
Nidoqueen nodded wearily. "It is all right," she squeaked tiredly. "This is all the children we planned to have, at least for the forseeable future. We will have our hands more than full."  
  
Rhyhorn gave a grunt-laugh and nuzzled her forehead gently.  
  
Sharie smiled and set about cleaning up. The thin blankets she had spread, made of hospital material, had caught the awful mess of birth; for that she was glad. They were biodegradable, and she would dispose of them in a safe place. She also stripped off her operating gown, and lasty, went to dispose of the afterbirth in a place known only to Nidoqueen--and to herself. Normally, the mother alone performed this sacred task, but Nidoqueen was too weak to do so at the moment, and Sharie refused to let her get up yet. The mother trusted her enough to ensure her with this careful task.  
  
One thing that was obvious though was the fact the mother had not wanted it buried in the chambers hidden in Mt. Quena. It meant a trip outside, and in this storm. She had protested Sharie's intent to do it now, storming, and in the middle of the night, but Sharie knew the traditions of the nidoran family well. It would distress the young mother more if it were not done as soon as possible, even if she tried not to show it.  
  
This time Sharie went out prepared to battle the storm, closing her eyes and letting a bright blue ball of energy form around her, so the storming hail bounced right off it. When she floated outside and promptly vanished into thin air, using Teleport--not particularly safe to do in such a storm-- Mewtwo, concerned, knew she would suddenly be miles away.  
  
****  
  
Sharie was gone for quite a while.  
  
After she had done what she set out to do, and finished her task with the afterbirth, Sharie stood in the middle of the forest, still glowing and unharmed from the terrible havok the storm was unleashing, but the swirling, howling winds matched her inner turmoil. She closed her eyes and hugged herself tightly, feeling the life of the storm, it's essence and it's force--something normally only pokemon were really aware of, not the same force humans sensed--sweep over her, merging with her emotions and howling through her spirit until she utterly lost herself, her awareness, her need for her body. Only a thin, tenacious link to her subconscious reminded her that a part of her was still on the mortal plain.  
  
She had done this before, even though it had frightened her father and others who cared for her when she had pulled such a stunt. At times when her emotions thratened to escape her careful control, she had done this-- gone out and lost herself to a storm, letting it scour away at the emotions that threatened to explode forth, doing the howling and raging for her, in a sense--and in doing so, it usually brought her back under control.  
  
It did so now, the swirling winds and pelting hail, far from being frightening, temporarily soothed Sharie's overwrought nerves until she felt halfway human again, and not an irrational, jumbled mess of confused conflict. Maybe Mew was right after all in what he'd been trying to impart to her. And, she wished, the awful pain from the memories, still so recent, would eventually fade. She hoped so.  
  
****  
  
The young man stood, pressed against the rock wall of the shallow, overhanging cliff shelter he'd sought in the storm, and watched with surprised eyes the woman who'd seemed to appear out of nowhere and stood, stock-still, in the middle of this terrible storm, with her eyes closed and arms around her slender body, hugging it as if cold. However, the strange, icy-blue light surrounding her body kept her dry, for her bound-up silvery- blonde curls did not look soaked, nor did her button-down shirt tucked into knee-length jean shorts. Hailstones pelted down on her and were bounced harmlessly off, and she did not so much as react to them.  
  
He watched, still very surprised, as she stood there for the longest time, like a statue and immune to the elements--until she suddenly gasped, her eyes opening. He could not see their color from this distance, but she whirled around once, seeking--something, he did not know what--and *whist*, was gone, like some unearthly siren--as if she'd never been there at all.  
  
The young man blinked and rubbed his eyes, wondering if he *had* just been seeing things. He shinvered in both thought and because of the cold, and hugged his Eevee tighter. He wasn't about to go back out in the storm to see if the apparition had actually left any evidence of her existence behind--but he knew the image would stay with him for quite a long while.  
  
"Eh-whe," murmured the little Eevee, curling up closely to her trainer, hoping her tiny body could keep them both warm. She closed her eyes and her body began to glow a light red, warming both her and her trainer, an interesting fire trick Eevee normally didn't learn--and a small tribue to her trainer's unusual skills. They had been through life, and very close to death, together, and she'd happily learn anything else he ever tried to teach her. Crippled in pain or in good health, they supported each other, and were another rare example of human and pokemon achieving the balance that was possible of both kinds.  
  
****  
  
*Watched*.  
  
She'd felt watched.  
  
Somewhere, out in the stormy darkness, someone had seen her. She wasn't sure if it was human or pokemon, but she did not stick around long enough to find out. If it was human, they'd think it awfully strange to see a human girl out there, looking unprotected in the storm....and yet staying perfectly dry, somehow utilizing strange tricks of nature humans weren't meant for. It'd be all too easy for them to think the area bewitched, or crawling with rare pokemon and secrets--and thus invite unwanted visitors.  
  
Above all, it felt strange, and not safe at all.  
  
So, abruptly, even though it was still not safe to do so in a storm like this, she teleported away in an instant.  
  
She reappeared, still floating in midair, just outside one of the entrances into the hidden chambers to Mt. Quena's hollow interior. As she drifted silently inside, she effortlessly pushed past the psychic sheilds Mewtwo had put up over the entrances, and at the same time, she let her own protective barriers, the ones that had sheilded her from the storm, fall away.  
  
She was almost immediately pounced upon by the tiny figure that had been crouching inside the entrace, waiting frantically for any sign of her to reappear.  
  
"Oof," Sharie groaned as she was knocked clean to the floor from the small purple figure that slammed headlong into her slender body. Even as she fell her arms automatically hugged Madhea's small frame close to her.  
  
"That terrible storm, and you're hardly even wet," she heard it vagely echoing in her mind. Madhea was trembling slightly, and the feel of Madhea in her arms, after a night like tonight, immediately threatened to rip apart the hard-won control she'd gained in the storm.  
  
"You stayed awake waiting for me," Sharie murmured. It wasn't a question, it was a statement. The last thing she'd wanted was for Madhea to worry over her. She felt guilty for this and shivered, hugging Madhea tightly to her.  
  
A soft sigh of emotion crept into her mind from Madhea's, in a form that barely took on words. The feelings behind it were much more intense. *I would know if your lifeforce dimmed or snapped altogether, Sharie. The same you would me. That is a permanent presence in my mind. But--*  
  
Sharie knew what else she would have said. Love made you worry. And care. And *feel*. Sharie felt their heartbeats echoing against each other's in one single rhythm, and tears inadvertently filled her eyes as she remembered what memories had been tormenting her this night. So easily Madhea's young lifeforce could have been ripped away. Madhea would have deprived so many others of her sweet soul if anything had ever happened to her.  
  
Again Sharie was assaulted by the pain and love that went with such memories, and what had stemmed from their happy endings. She swallowed hard, remembering. A happy little Mewtwo who touched so many lives around her, and earned her love in return. One who also brought joy to the lonely, shadowed heart of the only other one like her, the one who had thought himself cast forever into the shadows of darkness and lonliness. Sharie knew what she was seeing, from the extra light that was in Mewtwo's eyes now to his actions when Madhea was with him. Like herself, Sharie knew, meeting Madhea had made him feel things he'd either forgotten or had never been aware of before. Maybe as Madhea grew, these feelings would evolve further into something truly beautiful.  
  
Sharie shivered and hugged Madhea lightly again. Something else washed over her senses--Madhea forgave her for being gone so long. The storm had made her worry that something bad was going to happen to her.  
  
Sharie smiled at that, faintly. "Thank you, little one. I got lost in the storm was all."  
  
"You got *lost*?" Mewtwo put in. Only now did Sharie really notice him standing nearby in the shadows. "How could you get lost? Your sense of direction seemed pretty keen to me."  
  
There was an edge to his tone and a slightly dark shadow in his amethyst eyes. Sharie suddenly realized that her worrying Madhea had also upset him because of it, and further proof of things echoing in his heart he did not yet understand. Nobody would do anything to Madhea without crossing him first.  
  
Sharie recalled that look as one reserved for those he did not care about much--he'd given a more severe version of that look to Giovanni, and even earlier, to Ash and his friends on New Island before Ash had opened up his cold heart.  
  
The look he gave her was not so dark but no less intense. Sharie knew he was meaning to chastize her in that quiet way of his. If Sharie had not seen that look before she might have felt more fear than she did then. She stood up, Madhea in her arms, and kept her spine straight.  
  
"Not lost, direction-wise," she stated simply, but evenly, her matching eyes not wavering from his identical pair. "Losing myself."  
  
With that, she quietly walked past him to one of her favorite spots under a lilac tree, still in bloom out of season after the Venusaur evolution festival from a few days before.  
  
Surprised by her answer, and even moreso by her unexpected reaction to him, Mewtwo stood still for several moments, staring after her.  
  
Losing herself?  
  
How could she lose herself, in such a storm as this? It was his own bad habit to sometimes stand out in one and let it scour away at the edges of his tormented spirit at times until he could focus again, but most humans could not--  
  
With a start, he suddenly realized that was exactly what she had done. She was one of the rare humans that had such capacity, and many of the darker echoes of her soul mirrored his. With her ability to feel what pokemon could and her nature, it wasn't so impossible she'd take advantage of such a trick.  
  
The simplistic, even way she'd told him also had an underlying message, now that he saw it: she also knew that he had done the same. He ought to know what the effects of losing oneself in a storm like this was like, and that included losing track of time, again something he himself had encountered.  
  
Sharie understood him far too well, a thought that always disturbed him.  
  
He looked over at Sharie again, directly this time. She was seated under the lilac tree, seemingly not tired at all despite the fact she'd been up all night long. Madhea was in her lap, eyes closed, and Sharie was humming softly to herself and staring straight ahead at--nothing at all.  
  
The turbulence, however, was still in her eyes, and he fractionally saw her grip on Madhea tighten a bit further. He had picked up on some of what was going on when she handled Nidoqueen's birth, and he knew she was still fighting it. Not even the storm could fully bring it down, no storm ever had done that for him, either.  
  
He had to fight the urge to draw in the deep breath that accompanined the sudden flood of guilt he felt. Why? Why was it so hard to see past the fact of who Sharie appeared to be, of her tainted blood, and see what was truly there on the inside? Hadn't she done enough to earn his trust by now, his full trust? He'd had enough of his heart warring with his doubting brain about her, but he just could not let it go. Awful as it was, he knew that it would take much more for her to earn his complete trust. One too many betrayals in his short life had made him this way.  
  
****  
  
Sharie started out of her trance when she felt a light touch on her arm. Blinking, she looked upwards to see Mewtwo standing beside her, a faint glimmer of apology in his eyes. Somehow, he'd picked up on her silent message to him and finally understood for himself what had happened.  
  
Her lips quirked upwards at him, but only faintly. *It is all right,* he heard, silently, in his mind only. *I should not have allowed that storm to scour my senses away, no matter what I was feeling. I never told Madhea I've done this before. I should have thought.*  
  
*Who does not want some peace in their lives?* she heard in her mind as she shifted Madhea in her arms. The little girl was limp, and exhausted. She was clearly dozing, unaware of what was going on around her. He reached down, impulsively, and touched her forehead gently. *You were right, I have done it myself. I know what it can do.*  
  
*It made Madhea worry, and that is what makes me guilty,* Sharie sent stubbornly. *There is one dent in her happy soul, Mewtwo. After you made all others forget about you, and thus her, nobody returned. For weeks she floated there alone, nobody around her, no soul. She could not sense anybody. And she got sicker and sicker as well. You know how independent she is, but for all she likes to *do* things on her own, she hates *being* alone. It was her first of life's nasty lessons, and will always haunt her.*  
  
Frustration shadowed Sharie's eyes as she settled Madhea's dozing form lower in her lap. *Not even all the love and stability I or you can give her will remove those memories from her mind. Sometimes she still dreams about it, even.*  
  
Mewtwo understood fully the scope of what Sharie was telling him. Both he and Sharie had felt such isolation, but not quite in the manner Madhea had. The scope of Madhea's frantic worry when Sharie had not returned suddenly dawned clear in Mewtwo's mind, and it was a further reason for him to be glad he'd not forcibly seperated Madhea from Sharie. Not only would Madhea never have trusted him, it would have destroyed her young soul.  
  
Madhea was so much more solid and stable than he was in many ways, because she'd known love without bounds from the moment of her birth. It was more than shameful that that happy soul should have had it's one real dark shadow on it placed before she ever took her first breath.  
  
****  
  
As Sharie had fallen silent, dawn was upon them. Sharie had been up all night, and exhausted as she was from the long period of darkness and tension, she could not have slept.  
  
Even as the sky began to lighten slightly, it was only barely as the violent storm outside did not let up it's howling fury.  
  
Madhea awoke from her short doze with a start when Sharie's arms around her jerked spasmodically.  
  
The little Mewtwo gasped in surprise to have been brought awake so abruptly and looked up into Sharie's eyes and face, which had gone pale, deathly pale.  
  
Sharie's amethyst eyes had gone empty, like a void of echoes, and she was staring straight ahead, her face expressionless.  
  
It was much the same as she had looked when Rhyhorn had come lumbering frantically, searching for her. Madhea, however, sensed that the reason for this, the second time in a single night, was much different this time.  
  
"Sharie?" she asked hesistantly as Mewtwo came up beside them. He, too, had seen the look cross Sharie's face, and was wondering what caused it *this* time.  
  
The sound of Madhea's voice seemed to pull Sharie from her trance. She shook her head quickly and glanced down at Madhea, sudden light returning to her empty eyes.  
  
"Sharie?" Madhea repeated, concerned. "What is it?"  
  
"I....I don't know," Sharie murmured. Apologetically she set Madhea on her tired little feet and stood up herself, looking around quickly.  
  
Hidden in the same hollow, she sensed Nidoqueen and her new babies were sleeping peacefully. Nidoqueen's first litter of babies were scattered in small groups around the caverns, also sleeping, exhausted from a long night of worrying about their mother.  
  
That wasn't the problem, and Sharie was about to discount what she'd felt as nothing more than a buzz across her sleep-deprived mind; something she'd only imagined, a reaction to the stress of last night.  
  
Suddenly it came again, a faint buzz in her toes and resounding in her ears, even though she knew her ears were not picking up any noise. The noise was emanating more on her psionic plain than in any physical one. Resounding in an area that no human could normally pick up on, because their minds weren't tuned to it, and a further reminder that hers, human as she was, was not the same.  
  
She did not really think of that now as she drew in a sharp breath and took a step towards the cave openings on the east side. She just barely felt Madhea's little fingers slip into her belt loop, determined to follow her.  
  
Only then did Mewtwo also pick up a faint buzz, one that resonated softly on his pokemon senses, ones he was just now learning to tune into nature around him. Senses he still felt he wasn't fit to feel. But he surely felt this.  
  
It grew stronger, and he had no doubt as the source of the disturbance was coming closer, and something within him told him it was indeed approaching from the easterly direction.  
  
Suddenly a low growl emanated softly against his toes, and this time also echoed in his ears. It was so soft it was almost beyond the hearing ability of a human, but seeing Sharie in front of him stiffen like she did, he knew she heard it, too.  
  
He saw Sharie suddenly hug herself, suppressing a shiver. A blue glow started at the top of her head and quickly made it's way around her body in a thin outline. He saw Madhea do the same to herself, though he doubted the girl really understood what was happening any more than he did.  
  
Sharie, without a sound, used her telekentic powers to silently lift off the ground a few inches and float quietly to the eastern entrance she was standing by, up and over the water rushing out the entrance. She placed the palms of her small hands against the psionic barriers Mewtwo had erected when the storm hit, and effortlessly pushed past them out into the howling fury. Madhea, her little fingers still tightly clutching the belt loops of Sharie's jean shorts, followed without question or protest.  
  
However, her little fingers gripping the belt loops hung un with an almost imperceptible, but tautly anxious, intensity and determination.  
  
Mewtwo had the distinct impression that wherever Sharie went, Madhea was making sure she went along this time. She wasn't about to let them be seperated again, not after worrying herself nearly frantic earlier.  
  
Though she was staring straight ahead at the faint light in the eastern sky, Sharie reached down, her hand lightly on Madhea's small shoulder. Mewtwo got the impression she was glad Madhea was with her, too.  
  
Another fierce buzz across Mewtwo's senses distracted him from the two in front of him, however. It was strong enough that he pushed himself across the barrier and joined them.  
  
When he reached Sharie and Madhea, he was rather astonished by the strange sight that greeted his eyes.  
  
All around them, the wind howled and shrieked. Hail and pelting rain both pounded all three individuals floating in the storm, but thanks to the barriers surrounding them they were unharmed.  
  
However, far in front of them, Mewtwo became aware of a strange sight.  
  
A circular area, about one hundred feet across, was free of any blowing wind, bruising hail, or driving rain. Beneath it the grasses were still, leaves ceased to bounce, flowers no longer were torn apart. It was as if an invisible wall was surrounding and sheilding the place, granting it immunity to the howling hell just beyond it's borders.  
  
But it did not last long. The still area was moving, and gradually drifting closer towards the huge mountain that lay in its path. All life that had been granted a few minutes respite from the battering storm were pelted once more as the still area drifted onward, a tiny oasis of stillness in the insanity.....almost a mirage.  
  
Mewtwo had never seen anything *quite* like it.  
  
Neither had Sharie. Silently her hand groped for Madhea's and unclenched it from her belt loop, only to have the small fingers clenched in hers instead. Sharie did not know why, but that....whatever it was, drifting closer and closer, seemed to radiate a slightly sinister edge that raked across her nerves.  
  
"Sharie? What *is* it?" she heard Madhea dimly above the wind's shriek.  
  
"I do not know, Madhea," she responded truthfully. "It....it's strange. I've never felt anything like it before. Stay close to me!"  
  
There came a fierce shriek of wind, and suddenly a faint glow from the charm bouncing on her chest caught Sharie's eye. It, too, seemed to be reacting to the strange aura that the nature around them was experiencing.  
  
Another sense filled Sharie's mind at that instant, even as she clutched her charm with her free hand. A presense suddenly grazed at the edge of her awareness...a consciouness, a sense of living entity.  
  
"A pokemon!" she said aloud, though not very loudly. "It has to be from a pokemon!"  
  
"A pokemon?" echoed Mewtwo, coming up behind her. "What kind of pokemon?"  
  
"I do not know...." Sharie trailed off. What kind of pokemon could produce that kind of effect? If it wasn't some sort of legendary pokemon hiding in the clouds, then it still had to be a very powerful one. Only the most diverse, or the most powerful and mysterious pokemon, she knew tended to bother controlling the elements to such a degree. Mewtwo could, or Mew, but she knew no pokemon from the caves was doing so now.  
  
Another strange feeling, stronger this time, cut right across her mind, and her charm suddenly flared very brightly, nearly blinding her with it's intensity. Sharie, Madhea, and even Mewtwo had to close their eyes for several seconds against the glare--but they weren't unware of a loud rumble filling their ears as well, a growling roar.  
  
The roar had no verbal meaning, even in the pokemon language--it was pokemon, but garbled and thus unintelligible nonetheless--, but the intensity and fierceness of it told all three of them clearly that the brightness of her charm had caught ....whater-it-was's attention.  
  
When Sharie opened her eyes again, the still area in front of them was gone. It had passed them by, but when Shaire looked behind her and still up, she saw that the area, now brighter, had not gone far....it had settled in the skies above Mt. Quena and stayed there, in suspension, as if waiting for something.  
  
At that moment, a strange feeling siezed Sharie's senses. There was no sound, no rumble, nothing. But Sharie could not seem to control the sudden urge she had to *move*.  
  
Quickly she pulled Madhea up and hugged her tightly to her chest as she began to rise further into the air, and turned around, heading for the flat top of Mt. Quena and the empty depression that once held it's vast waters.  
  
Mewtwo, not knowing what was going un but not willing to have Madhea placed in any sort of danger, followed.  
  
He reached the rim of the mountain moments after Sharie did, and was just in time to be greeted with an astonishing sight.  
  
Out from the black-and-grey cloud deck came slithering a giant, green, serpent-like pokemon, with two huge crests adorning it's head and outlined in thin lines of black, red, and yellow. Fierce black eyes glared out at the world through yellow irises, and the mouth was huge, and open. This pokemon had one pair of arms and a set of jaws big enough to swallow a young Mewtwo whole--or a small human, for that matter. There was plenty of room--Mewtwo's calculating mind told him this giant pokemon was twenty- three feet long!  
  
Mewtwo had met more than one legendary pokemon in his short life but he'd never dreamed that ones like *this*, so fierce-looking, were also haunting the ends of the earth. This one looked so powerful Mewtwo had a feeling it's power levels could not be too far below his own, he, the most powerful pokemon ever created.....  
  
He did know for certain, however, that he did *not* want Madhea getting close to such a creature! Madhea might be powerful, but she was just a child! He couldn't allow her to be exposed to such an unknown threat! It didn't take a genius to figure that this pokemon had an attitude.  
  
He wanted to mentally shout this, angrily, as well, to Sharie, but the human girl's movements stopped him before he could. He saw Sharie gently disengage Madhea's little fingers from hers and both of them turn around to face Mewtwo.  
  
Sharie's eyes held a hint of morbid fear....not for herself, but for Madhea, from the way her hands were gripping the little girl's shoulders.  
  
By now the creature had seen the group, but it seemed to have no notion of flying away. It simply levitated there, watching them with menacing yellow eyes, as if deciding what to do with their fate.  
  
Mewtwo came up alongside Sharie and firmly took Madhea's other hand in his. Her fingers found his and clutched them trustingly. Wildly Madhea, fascinated and yet scared out of her wits, groped for Sharie's hand with her free one, and for several seconds, they just floated there, two Mewtwos and a human watching the huge slithering serpent of the skies.  
  
****  
  
Twin flashes of red emanated from the serpent's eyes as they began to glow like the fires of hell.  
  
Sharie did not know why, only that it made her spine stiffen in fear. Instinctively she felt her psychic powers beginning to rally, preparing for a possible violent confrontation.  
  
Mewtwo did the same. This creature could not be a dark-type. He looked like a serpent or a dragon, that was probably what he was. He could not be immune to a powerful psychic blast if it were hurled in his direction. The safety of Madhea was uppermost in his mind. He would *not* let this precious young life be harmed!  
  
The intensity of the emotion amazed him, and he did not understand why his heart began to pound...not with fear or adrenaline, but because of the sudden feeling of sickenss at his stomach.  
  
Sharie's charm, however, reacted before any standoff could be broken. It flashed again, flaring brightly, the light escaping the fingers Sharie had clenched around it.  
  
Sharie let her hand fall. On her chest, the charm began to pulse with it's magical, strange inner light.  
  
In fact, it glowed in a strange pattern Sharie felt she should understand, but since she had no idea of the charm's deeper meanings, it eluded her.  
  
It must have, however, meant something to the huge creature above them. Abruptly it's eyes returned to it's normal yellow, and Sharie could have sownr she saw mild surprise echoing in the dragon's depths.  
  
The pokemon opened it's mouth and gave a low roar.  
  
Sharie's mind, so tuned to the pokemon world, instantly comprehended what the creature was saying.  
  
"Rayquaza," she breathed.  
  
Once again that strange glassiness hazed over her eyes, seeming to take her will from her.  
  
Abruptly her hand released Madhea's, and before either the little girl or Mewtwo could move, Sharie drifted upwards towards the creature, unable to resist the command it issued forth for her to come to him, even had she wanted to.  
  
Mewtwo was afraid the creature must have an intense hatred for humans--in fact, he sensed it did, broiling just under the surface, now that he was aware of it. Indeed, the dragon opened it's mouth wide as Sharie approached, and Mewtwo, to his own surprise, felt a sudden jolt of sick fear for Sharie--since when was he so concerned about her very *life*?  
  
He didn't know, but those huge jaws seemed ready and willing to swallow Sharie whole as she approached it. He found himself frozen and unable to move, but had to clamp his hand quicly over Madhea's mouth to keep her from screaming aloud. With what limited movement she had, she was thrashing wildly, fighting to break the sudden grip on them both and follow Sharie to her doom, a fate Mewtwo was determined to forbid her from doing.  
  
He was more aware than ever that it would destroy Madhea if Sharie died, but dammit, Sharie wasn't the only one so willing to be there for her! How could he do any less when he felt like this?! He did not know what these feelings were, but he now realized, very suddenly, he wanted to be as much to Madhea as Sharie was now.  
  
Right now it was *Sharie* consuming Madhea's thoughts and emotions, her fear and desperate desire to join her. Very suddenly, he wanted that as well. He did not consicously know--the feeling was too new and raw to his heart--but his soul knew, and the ache reverberated sharply because of it, destined to only grow in intensity as time passed. Only time would tell if his soul would ever find such fulfillment.  
  
****  
  
Despite the turbulence in his heart, Mewtwo did know what he was consciously thinking as he held a frantically struggling Madhea as still as he could. This creature had some strange control he was exercising over them, of a strange source Mewtwo had never encountered, so he, the mightiest of all pokemon, was unable to help Sharie in the slightest. She would be devoured, and that would be the end.  
  
Or was it?  
  
****  
  
Sharie rose until her eyes were level with the bright yellow orbs of the pokemon before her. She was floating right in front of it's huge, gaping mouth, and knew that should he jerk his head suddenly, she was a goner. Madhea or Mewtwo weren't his target--they were fellow pokemon and he would not hurt them. Far better her meet any dire fate than them. The thought of them in this situation was one she could not stand.  
  
He did not move.  
  
Neither did she.  
  
Suddenly, his eyes glowed again--not red this time, but blue.  
  
*Touch me,* she heard in her mind, making her amethyst eyes blink in astonishment.  
  
*Touch me!* repeated the voice when she did not move. A low growl issued from the throat, so soft only she could have heard it. Her mind automatically told her the sharp, cold growl meant the same words.  
  
Slowly her small hands reached out, and pressed to the scaly, firm skin right above the creature's eyes. The creature called Rayquaza suddenly began glowing an azure shade, and Sharie's icy shade deepened to match it.  
  
For a long time they hung there, seemingly suspended in time and space, and to the two Mewtwos watching, oblivious to the world around them.  
  
****  
  
Whew, folks, how many meet the legendary Rayquaza? I've become fascinated with this pokemon of late so he got worked into my story as a result. Keep an eye out for chapter 16! 


	16. Revelations Past

_**Disclaimer: ** NYMN. Ok, I did not MEAN to make you all wait a year and a half for this!!! My life's been crazy and my publisher's on the rocks. I finally managed to finish this part, after three starts where my publisher ate my file. Yes, Rayquaza's a real pokemon, with the natural ability Air Lock, explaining his peculiar effect on the weather around him. Hope this is worth it, and caution, warm fuzzy warning near the end....lol_

Of Moonlight Shadows and Echoes Past chapter 16

by ZeoViolet

Sharie felt oh, so very cold.

It was as if an icy numbness had spread itself over her body, even though she suspected the weather had nothing to do with it.

_Yessss...._ she heard the growl in her mind. _Yes....fate placed you in my path tonight. We were fated to meet._

_I felt I had to come up here,_ was her quiet reply, dimly sensing her icy blue aura deepening to an azure shade to match the one surrounding his. _I felt called here, but why I do not know._

_That is reason enough,_ came the cool reply. _Now, prepare yourself for what I must do._

The huge mouth opened, but Sharie didn't move. In front of her, below where she touched him, the mouth opened wide--wide enough to swallow a small human female.

Madhea struggled violently, and vainly, in Mewtwo's firm grasp. She was fighting with all her might to get free and go to Sharie, but not only did Mewtwo's iron grip keep her imprisoned, some unknown magic force held their feet, more or less, rooted to a small area. Mewtwo felt his feet completely immoble, and Madhea with only a little more room.

There came a low growl, and Madhea paused to see the huge dragon's mouth open wide.....wider.....and Sharie not moving out of the way!

Sharie's eyes were a deep azure glow, and Madhea feared that the creature had her under his control and planned to make her his next snack.

"Sharie!"

The child redoubled her efforts to free herself, and Mewtwo, unaware she carried so much inner strength, had to struggle his utmost to keep her little body in check.

"Stop it! Do you want to die as well?"

"She needs me!"

"We can't help her now! You'll meet your death too if you go over there!" This was an unwelcome mental image that floated in front of Mewtwo's gaze.

"If Sharie dies I'm right behind her!" Madhea's shrill mental voice resounded with deep meaning.

Mewtwo was so shocked his arms slackened and he nearly lost his grip on the struggling little girl. No! No way in hell he'd let her do such a thing!

And yet, Mewtwo reflected sadly, he knew it was very true. Their souls were tightly bound, a fact he could not change nor was willing to do so. Anything like this happening to one would in all likelihood destroy the other.

But he could not, would not let the child destroy herself! Madhea meant too much to him, also! He cared for her, was happy when she was near, and....and....

His heart refused to recognize the other emotions buried deep within, a feeling still foreign to him and had no name for it in his head or in his soul. It was a feeling on lessons he had yet to fully understand.

Madhea suddenly stopped struggling.

Mewtwo looked up, following her gaze.

The dragon creature's mouth was again closed, and he and Sharie were suspended in midair, floating quietly, with not a breath of air around them stirring.

It appeared Sharie was no longer in danger.

Mewtwo vaguely heard Madhea take a deep breath, and when he looked down, he saw that her eyes were closed. He felt her relax against him and knew that, instead of struggling, she was using her psychic powers.

What she was sensing, however, was beyond him. He could never have gotten so close to Sharie's mind as Madhea could do the rare times Sharie let anybody sense anything from her--although trying to sense Sharie normally was like trying to sense a rock--it was like she wasn't there.

Madhea had been overwhelmed by a sudden feeling of ill-ease when she saw the dragon's mouth close as abruptly as it had opened. With his mouth shut, the dragon looked far less terriying, and the the strange image of them suspeneded there, alone and in silence, began to take on an unusual allure.

Once she forced herself to calm down and look at them, she started getting an odd sense emanating from them, one that made her feel foolish once she realized what it was.

Though this dragon did not like humans--something Madhea sensed from the first--Sharie was in no danger.

This picture held no undercurrents of threat or caution. Once Madhea really began to listen, she began to pick up threads of....of need, of a desire to get something done.

Her eyes closed, and she drew a deep breath, pushing her mind outward. The biggest question buzzing in her mind was, why? Why this? Why this way?

She came up against a wall, because they were oblivious to her. Just vaguely, Madhea sensed whispers. Echoes. Deeper emotion, deep meaning. Underlying conveyance of....

Her amethyst eyes opened and looked at Mewtwo's questioning glance.

"They're talking," she said simply.

"That's it?" Mewtwo stared at her. "They're talking?"

"Now that I can pick it up, yes." Madhea suddenly blushed, recalling how she had struggled earlier in vain. What had driven her so? "I was too....upset to notice until just now."

"Do not be ashamed," he admonished her gently, hugging her little form closer to him. She sighed and laid her head on his shoulder, her eyes again transfixed on Sharie. "Your actions are not anything to worry about. It proves that you care."

"More than 'just care'," came the vague answer.

Mewtwo did not like where the conversation was heading. "What are they talking about?" he asked instead.

"I don't know exactly," Madhea admitted. "I only heard vague whispers, and no real words. I get the sense that....him...that dragon....had a lot to say, and Sharie is, after all, a human able to understand him."

"That is true," Mewtwo admitted. Few enough humans were able to breach the pokemon language barrier in the manner Sharie did. She might be the only one out there, for all he knew.

Madhea drew in a deep breath, and looked reflective. "He doesn't like humans, all right, but I don't think he's vicious--just the opposite. I think humans make him sad more than anything."

"I wonder why," said Mewtwo, not just slightly sarcastically. Madhea understood his point, though she did not share his sarcasm. After all he'd been through? No small point he felt that way.

She didn't comment on that, though, and instead continued with what she'd picked up, vague as it was.

"I get the feeling he's very old, and has seen much. He's a legendary, like us, and you know how some humans are about the more powerful pokemon out there."

Mewtwo's mouth curled upwards slightly despite himself. "So even you fall to classifying us as Legendaries, don't you, little one?"

"It is true. Mew is definetly a legend, one of the most powerful out there. We're Mewtwos, remember." Her little mouth quirked at him in a most charming fashion, and the faintest hint of a twinkle entered her amethyst eyes.

Mewtwo had to fight to keep from chuckling at her deadpan observation.

"This one...." Madhea mused, focusing back on what she'd felt, "I think he's a Dragon, all right, and he flies. But....I don't know what he is. What kind. He was not among the tapes played to me while I was still floating in that tank, nor among the ones Sharie has been teaching me about."

How much did Madhea know about the world, despite the little she'd seen? Mewtwo wondered. How much had she absorbed about the world, first before her birth, and in the three-and-a-half months since? He only said, however, "Neither am I. Since my days with Giovanni many more pokemon have been discovered, most of which I have never seen."

Madhea grew quiet. This was true. In the last few years the number of known pokemon had grown by leaps and bounds. At last count, it was over 350 and rapidly rising. Sharie knew that thousands, at least, more were just waiting to be found. It stood to reason that this one was either unknown to present-day humans--even if they had known him in the past--or only recently rediscovered.

"There's one other thing," Madhea was speaking quietly now.

"What is that?"

"He's powerful. Very powerful. Enough to be on par with us, if you get my drift."

Mewtwo had been struck with the same feeling. This dragon of the air was probably one of the extreme few who could pose a serious threat to his existence.

An icy blue flash caught their attention, and Mewtwo forgot about the subject of power.

The azure aura that had surrounded Sharie and the dragon began to shimmer, and lighten in color. The glowing shade in their eyes lightened to match the changing prism, and suddenly, cracks appeared around the edges of the aura itself.

All at once, with a faint shimmering noise, the aura burst free and outwards in infintesimle bits of rainbow light.

At the same time, Sharie's fingers lifted from the dragon. She drifted backwards a few feet, and to Madhea's concern, looked strange--her face expressionless, her eyes suddenly back to their normal amethyst hue but glassy and unfocused.

The dragon began to move. He twisted his slithery body in the air, surrounding her once, twice, before shooting upwards towards the cloud deck. The rainbow light swept past, gathering up behind him.

Just before he reached the clouds, he paused. He looked downwards once more, and a thoughtful expression crossed his face. He turned downwards one more time, this time swooping down around Mewtwo and Madhea also--and to their surprise and relief, they could suddenly move.

The dragon swept past Sharie once more, and for an infintesimal period of time, Mewtwo saw their eyes lock a final time. Sharie's hands automatically cupped themselves, and their was a green flash as a small flame appeared in her palms--a magical fire that, apparently, wasn't burning her. Sharie made no reaction of pain.

With that, the dragon creature gave a final growl, and soared heavenwards. His giant body slithered into the dawn-streaked cloud deck, and in moments, was out of sight.

The area of still air about them move off, and with it the protection from the weather it gave. All three occupants of the area were soaked in moments, but nobody moved, least of all Sharie. She continued to stare at her cupped hands, a serene, unreadable expression in her glassy eyes.

Madhea had to fight back the impulse to make a headlong dash towards Sharie. The human seemed unaware of their presence. She was only staring at the glowing flame in her hands, which was gradually fading away, leaving in it's place a deep green crystal in the shape of a flame.

"Sharie.....what is it?" Madhea barely breathed as she got closer, peering at the strange object in Sharie's hands.

A faraway smile touched Sharie's full lips for a moment, but her eyes remained distant.

"It is a reminder," was all she said.

"A reminder?" echoed Mewtwo. "Sharie, we thought that creature would destroy you. He left you a reminder? Of what?"

Now Sharie did blink, as if hearing his rather impatient words from far, far away. Her amethyst eyes finally left the crystal and and met his....but Mewtwo had the distinct feeling she was still looking straight through him, rather than directly at him.

"Of his words. Of their meaning. Of the deeper message of a world's critical balance, and of the cruelty of others that can destroy it....and of much, much more."

"So you were talking," piped up Madhea, hugging herself tightly. "I knew it."

That comment seemed to bring Sharie fully back to reality. She did not stop Madhea's headlong rush into her arms.

"I'm sorry, kiddo," she murmured. "I know I worried you, but it was like....the call to move, to go and find what was out there....was so strong I could not deny it even if I'd tried, kicking and screaming. No, I had to do it. But I was never in any danger. Rayquaza is above hurting others without just cause."

"Rayquaza? That is that....dragon's name?" asked Mewtwo.

"Yes. He is a dragon pokemon, and would be defined as a legendary one, at that. He's eons old, and has seen and suffered much over the eras. He does not like humans, but nor can he hate them....for they are also of this planet, part of a critical balance. They make him sad."

"He is unknown to present-day humans, then," Madhea surmised from Sharie's words.

"Almost, but not quite. What amazes me is he's so far out here--I have very recently heard of new legends unearthed that describe him exactly, I'm sure of it--but they are from the Hoenn reigon, far, far from here."

The Hoenn reigon? Mewtwo had only vaguely heard Giovanni mention it once, about how he still had a lot of ground to cover in world domination and that the Hoenn reigon would prove to be a problem.

"So that--whatever it is--is a reminder of Rayquaza's words to you?" asked Mewtwo.

"Yes. And the object is extremely rare, almost unknown, in the human world--it is crystalized dragon flame." Sharie held up the object so they could better view it. It was deep green, but also could be seen through. In the middle danced what looked like a magical internal fire, fire that had not solidified. It was strangely hypnotic.

Madhea disengaged her arms from Sharie's neck to turn and get a better look at the crystal. "Crystalized dragon flame? What does it do?"

A small smile touched Sharie's lips, pale with cold. "Few dragon pokemon could produce something like this.....usually just a Legendary. He can, pokemon I've heard called Latias and Latios probably could, but they are known for Soul Dews instead, items just as rare. A precious few Dragonites even could. But almost no human is presented one." Her hands cupped around the strangely warm flame and pressed against her chest.

"They're sacred to pokemon. Lance, the famous Elite Four and Dragon Master, as he calls himself, does have one, that I do know. Few others, however."

"You called it a reminder," Mewtwo uttered, who despite himself was greatly intrigued by this.

"Oh, it is. Both to myself and to him. He sensed that he somehow attracted my attention before he even picked up on the little charm around my neck," Sharie touched the amethyst diamond that hung next to her locket. "He said he didn't understand why he had been compelled to come out here, this strange place, until he saw me flying, and more importantly, saw I could understand him and saw my charm glow like it did."

"You talked for quite a while," piped up Madhea.

"It is rare that he gets to speak to a human on terms fully understood--much less appreciated," said Sharie solemnly. "He was even more surprised to see you out here, Mewtwo, as he hadn't sensed you in quite a while."

Mewtwo was dumbfounded by the rather offhand way she'd said it. "Myself? He knows me? I've never seen him or any pokemon like him before."

Much to his further surprise, he saw Sharie blush a slow red, despite the cold that had the rest of her body so white.

"He sure does know you. Or at least, your psychic signature, your power force and lifeforce. You attracted his attention once before."

Mewtwo's eyes questioned her. She blushed redder.

"Is it your desire to know what he told me? He did not forbid me from repeating it, but I do not desire to hurt you."

Mewtwo's eyes widened at this--hurt him? How?--but he nodded, not angry, not impatient, just expectantly.

"Rayquaza is a creature of the skies, Mewtwo. He's a dragon but he can also greatly influence the weather, and he was in the reigon that night you brewed a violent storm with the intent to kill all pokemon but the clones you had created."

Sharie's voice had sunk so low, so thin and light, that he barely heard her over the storm. In Sharie's arms Madhea stiffened. 

"Sharie? That big pokemon? You mean that he--?"

"I'm afraid so, Mewtwo. Had you finished your work, won against Mew and kicked that storm into high gear and tried to spread it worldwide, you would have found yourself in the middle of another fantastic battle. He was determined to stop you."

Sharie's eyes were soft now, feeling sad for him as she watched the blood flee his face.

It became harder for Mewtwo to hear her. A slow roar had begun in his ears, which had nothing to do with the storm, and a strange sense of nausea had hit the pit of his stomach. Sharie saw this, and felt deeply moved for him. Still, she had to continue.

"With a pokemon like him there is no easy garauntee you would have won that second fight. He knew it was a pokemon, a very angry, pain-filled pokemon bent on revenge. What stopped him from making his appearance to you was he sensed the other raw emotions emanating from the island fortress that night. Pain, despair, hope. He isn't a psychic type but he does have very strong powers, even for one of his own kind. He sensed some great drama happened that night that made your heart unlock."

Sharie saw Mewtwo's eyes go rather glassy with repressed emotion, she knew exactly what was dancing in front of his vision, the very part of his life that had unlocked some of that ice that had hardened around his heart, when one purehearted boy proved something so significant to him--_at least one human had a true heart! Who saw Pokemon and humans as equals and felt deeply for them. He acknowleded that pokemon had souls, were important whether born or created by science--and made him feel his own for the very first time._

Sharie's deep gaze pierced his own, past the glassiness, and truly held his eyes. "He knew then there was no danger, and something had affected you so deeply it had changed you. He went on his way, and was glad something had happened for you. He knew it had remained so when he saw you today, first time in the flesh, but your very essence told him you were the same pokemon, but your heart was quite different from before. And that made him happier for you."

Mewtwo was completely wordless, not able to speak in any form. Madhea had drifted over to him, contemplating quietly, her eyes shining.

Suddenly she launched herself at him, hugging him hard.

"He was happy for you," she said quietly, happily. "I'm happy to _be _with you."

The color returned to Mewtwo's face with a blinding speed. Unable to help himself, he hugged her against his heart.

And for the first time became aware of a change. One that filled him with pure joy for one moment.

He knew Sharie's heart and Madhea's beat as one. Now, for the first time, he became aware that the rhythm of his had changed, and was suddenly much closer to hers, too.

Sharie had to duck her head to hide her smile. That was sooooo sweet it would make anybody's heart melt. It was also just so Madhea.

She shivered again, soaked to the bone for the second time within a few hours, an she was fast becoming aware of how numb her body was becoming. Indeed, her fingertips were a bluish color now, and her face white with cold.

The sensation threatened to blot out everything else, even the multitude of other things Rayquaza had spoken to her of. His mentioning of Mewtwo, and correlation with her own recollections, barely scratched the surface of what had passed between them.

When Madhea finally disengaged her slim arms from around Mewtwo's waist, he noticed her shivering and her steadily worsening color. He also did not miss the intense fatigue and gathering clouds in her eyes, and knew she'd not had a night like this in all her life--training Madhea, the storm, Nidoqueen's birthing, and finally, Rayquaza. No time for rest had been afforded her.

"Come," he said quietly, Madhea's hand anchored firmly in his. "We should return."

He could hardly say more than this. His emotions were in quite a whirl of confusion at the moment, from both Madhea's actions and Sharie's revelations to him.

Sharie only nodded and telekentically flew behind him as they headed back for the entrance in the gradually lighting sky.

With Madhea, he still could not recognize these alien feelings too well. He knew he cared for her deeply, and could not bear to lose her now, or ever. The rest refused to make it's meaning clear. He was still, by far, too closed off from that part of his soul for that.

The young girl Mewtwo knew that she by now adored him very much, but one part of her feelings would stay buried deeply for some time to come. She was just too young to feel what could very well blossom someday.

However, the seeds had been planted, the bud starting to grow. Who knew what it would eventually bloom into.....

As for Rayquaza, Mewtwo somehow sensed that Sharie had taken enormous effort to tell him even this. She'd not been sure he'd take it the wrong way, and she seemed relieved he hadn't. Just the opposite, he understood.

He suspected he'd have to wait to find out more of what passed between them. Sharie had, it seemed, absorbed a lot of information in a very short amount of time, and she needed time sort through it all, to give it the deep thought that Rayquaza had so desperately seemed to need her to do.

The young man's Flareon had appeared out of it's pokeball, despite the rain. It didn't get directly wet in the shallow stone shelter they were huddled in, but it still sensed the wetness with a sense of unease. She used her internal fire sacs to keep the fire ahead of them alive before snuggling up next to her trainer. His Espeon had also come out to keep him company, and his Eevee stayed firmly in his lap.

Together, they were warm, warm enough for the youth's eyes to stay distant. Try as he might, he could not get that vision out of his head, of that mysterious girl he'd seen in the storm, who hadn't been wet at all, and had been floating in midair.

Common sense told him she'd been a mirage; he'd not seen people in weeks. Not in this area reputed for it's violent weather. Still, his deeper feelings told him that if he ever did see her again, he'd not wait around. He'd go forward and see if his eyes were playing tricks on him or not.

No matter if whispers of a Mewtwo-like pokemon had been reported in the area, transmitted to him by his psychic Espeon who listened to forest whispers. He'd find out.

More to come, I'm sorry you had to wait a year and a half, stay tuned, pretty please? And check my file, I've made an imortant update there, too. Go read it.


	17. Of Souls and DNA

_Disclaimer: NYMN, I don't own Pokemon in general. This is chapter 17, which I have finally managed to wrangle together for those multitudes who've been begging for it. (And some of you have gotten very, very loud.) I finally got the internet and my own computer, so things should be easier now._

Of Moonlight Shadows and Echoes Past, chapter 17

By ZeoViolet

Mewtwo was silent for some time, staring at Sharie as she quietly slept. Sunlight from one of the western entrances into the caverns was already illuminating her face and slender figure--she'd slept the rest of the morning and part of the afternoon away, completely exhausted.

Who could blame her? All in one night, she'd trained Madhea, endured a storm, delivered babies, gone out into the howling madness of a typhoon, and had obeyed the summoning call of a Rayquaza, that strange dragon Pokemon Mewtwo just could not forget. That image was burned into his mind, along with the thought that even if he had succeeded with Mew back then, killed everyone and kicked that storm into high gear, he'd still probably be dead right now.

He'd picked up on enough of Rayquaza's power to know what one hell of a fight he'd have had on his hands.

It was not a way Mewtwo would have preferred to learn that the world was not an orange he could claim the whole of for his own desires.

Thank gods Ash's actions had done that instead. Ash Ketchum had saved more lives than he knew that terrible, terrible night, by one swift action of selfless love for others.

That same result had speared a ray of light that reconnected Mewtwo with the heart he'd encased long ago in ice, and had had begun to unlock it, forcing emotions out of him that had changed him completely, and forever. _Forcing the light in his soul to stir...and breathe again._

_Again? Had it ever breathed before?_

_Before that? Had he ever felt anything besides pain, anger, rage, sadness?_

_No, he had always been this way, trying to ease the ache with the promise of power Giovanni had given him, but betrayed yet again, knowing he was only a shadow and his heart didn't exist, would never awaken and he didn't need it to..._

_He'd never felt anything else, ever..._

Life is wonderful.

_That whisper from the dark, the one that haunted him from his earliest days that he could remember, mocked that notion that he'd never felt anything more._

You should be happy. You're alive, and life is wonderful.

_The faint outline of a face, one never seen clearly without a reminder except in his deepest dreams...a face forced from his consciousness..._

_How did he know it had been forced? Why did that image conjur such pain...but offered the only hint he'd also perhaps felt happiness at one point long ago?_

The image dimmed again, and Mewtwo snapped out of his trance, breaking into a cold sweat. He had no idea he had so completely zoned out of awareness until reality jolted him back, but his heart was pounding madly with suppressed pain and he was breathing hard.

Intense purple eyes broke through the mists in his mind and instantly swept him back to total clarity. He wasn't sure why Sharie had tuned into him so accurately, but even through her exhaustion, she had.

She was staring avidly at him, worry gathering clouds into the depths of her amethyst gaze.

_Are you all right? _came her gently searching inquiry. He blinked, she was using telepathy, something he was aware she didn't use all that often. Strangely, her mental voice held his focus and calmed his frantically pounding heart.

_Yes, _he fibbed back along the wavelength so their 'talking' would not disturb Madhea, still slumped beside Sharie in deep slumber. _I was not aware I had awoken you. I apologize._

_You are not 'all right',_ She had seen right through his little white lie. _Your thoughts began to torture you; I was aware of the pain, and something that made you frantic as well. And I felt...that blockage._

Mewtwo suppressed a sigh. He thought he knew her well enough by now to be certain she had not voluntarily entered his mind.

Could it have been like those times before? He'd been emotionally stressed, and at odd times it had caused her to fall unconscious wherever she was and exist, a silent partner, alongside him, feeling what he felt, and often sharing it.

Sharie, while not consciously in his mind anymore, still somehow seemed to pick up on this...perhaps her barriers weren't up enough yet.

_It was something like that, and yet it wasn't like my past visions of you completely, _came her quiet voice. _I was aware of myself and knew I was awake while feeling you. This...was perhaps something even more. My awareness of you in my mind has grown even stronger since coming to Mt. Quena._

Mewtwo realized he didn't know quite what to say yet.

He just didn't have a clear answer for what was going on. It was too difficult to deny anymore that there was some mystery, some strange mystery that connected him and Sharie. Mew had sensed it quickly and deeply suspected it came from their troubled pasts, and was sure that somehow their pasts had collided before.

Mewtwo still wasn't in the least sure how. But even as he was uncomfortable thinking about it, his connection with Sharie, despite who she was, was all too real and something beyond even his control. Even if he was so inclined he did not know how to snap the echo of her soul from his own.

There was a mystery here, one he was beginning to sense meant his future happiness. That was not something he could take lightly.

_I will be all right_, he sent quietly. _I do not wish to discuss this just now...If you care to, though, go back to sleep._

She eyed him a moment but decided not to question him. He was entitled to his mental privacy the same as anyone else.

* * *

Sharie did not go back to sleep. Her mind was still too full of what Rayquaza had said to her, and the crystalized dragon flame that now hung on the chain about her neck sometimes pulsed warmly, a reminder of it's origin. 

Despite how tired she was, she got up when her pokegear pinged. It had to be her father, though the timing was unusual.

She sensed Madhea awakening at the sound, and the sleepy little girl rolled out of bed and followed her to her pack.

Sharie quickly uploaded the email to her pokegear device and began to read it.

She read and read, and very soon, it seemed as if the whole hidden caverns of Mt. Quena were plunged into icy coldness.

Mewtwo saw her breath pick up speed, and her purple eyes well with tears. The psychic explosion from her mind rent into his although he knew she hadn't meant it to.

_Oh no! Oh gods please no!_

She started shaking and the pokegear dropped to the ground, unnoticed.

_Madhea! What have they done to you! Oh, Madhea!_

Waves of pain washed over Sharie with the brutal force of a tidal surge. She felt like she was going to drown but didn't care. How could she have never known the truth for sure? How could she have not picked up on it right away?

_Madhea, what did_ I _do to you?_

The poor child could have been spared so _much_ pain!

Madhea was terrified by the conflicting emotions she saw burning behind Sharie's eyes, a stark contrast to the blankness of her gaze last night. Those emotions were awful and they had something to do with her!

Sharie sank to her knees, and when the little child, scared out of her wits, flew into her arms she locked her own around Madhea and held on as if she'd never let go.

"Madhea, please forgive me! I'm so sorry!"

"Sharie? What do you mean? Tell me what's wrong!" Madhea, though puzzled, was no less scared by Sharie's words.

"It's my fault! The way you are is my fault! I should have known!"

The concerned, but otherwise blank look Madhea gave her told Sharie that the child had absolutely no idea of what she was talking about.

Neither did Mewtwo as he came over. Sharie's reaction was completely out of the blue, and worse, she was scaring Madhea.

"Sharie, you are making no sense whatsoever! Would you please clarify what you mean? You're scaring Madhea senselss!"

"Don't you think I know that?" she said with a slight edge to her voice. "I'm sorry, Madhea, I should not have scared you but..._damnit_..."

Mewtwo heard what she didn't say. It was all in her eyes, welled brightly with tears that never fell and dancing with pain. What she had read had horrified her beyond belief. The burst of slight anger at how she was scaring Madhea cooled abruptly with this realization. She had not been able to help her reaction.

Madhea settled in willingly when Sharie cradled her tiny body in her lap and rocked her back and forth.

Neither said anything for several minutes, and instinctively Mewtwo let Sharie calm herself. He should not have gotten angry at all, he now knew, for her love of Madhea was too strong in what she was doing now.

Finally Sharie lifted her head, and spoke suddenly in a monotone. "I just learned things about Madhea I never before knew, and wish I did not know now. I could have avoided so much of her pain..."

Mewtwo's purple gaze shifted to the forgotten pokegear lying next to Sharie's body. "You read it in that?"

"Yes." Sharie's voice was reluctant but she made herself continue.

"When I first found Madhea deep in the woods, I destroyed the computers of the lab in which I found her, to leave no trace. However, before I did I downloaded many files, ones I had no way of decrypting with anything at hand. Some secrets regarding Madhea were top secret to the nth degree, apparently. Overflowing with firewalls. I sent those files to my father. I hoped he could figure out how to get past the problem."

"And he did."

It was a statement on Mewtwo's part.

"Yes."

The silence lingered for several more seconds.

From some hidden corner Mew, greatly worried about Sharie, drifted down and sat airily on her shoulder, winding his long tail loosely around her neck in a gesture of comfort. Her lips quirked; she appreciated it.

At last gathering her courage Sharie spoke. She could not hide this from them. It wasn't fair, no matter if she had fault in this or not. "You do know, Mewtwo, that you and Madhea _are_ part human, right?"

"Yes." That part of his genetic makeup Mewtwo disliked being reminded that he possessed.

"Do you know which human your DNA comes from?"

It was something Mewtwo was loathe to think about even more and it showed in the distaste on his face. "Yes, something I care not to have brought to my attention."

Sharie tried not to wince at the bitterness in his mental voice. He was entitled to his pain. "My father's DNA is in yours now. They did so because of his own psychic tendencies."

"What does this have to do with Madhea?" he asked to change the subject. It was an abrupt reminder that somehow, didn't it make him directly related to Sharie, to have blood of her kin in his own veins-not to mention those he hated so much?

Sharie hugged Madhea tightly. "It has a lot to do with her, you'll see. You were artificially aged at a rapid pace with drugs before you ever gained consciousness in your cloning column, even faster than what Mews were believed to reach maturity. Giovanni didn't want to _wait_."

She hissed the last word, then hugged Madhea even tighter. The little girl hugged back reassuringly.

"Madhea...as far as I knew did not have drugs used on her. She was cloned as a zygote, from a pokemon ovum and in an artificial womb; differently from you, and developed at a natural pace."

Sharie trembled, and her eyes welled with tears again. "Unknown to myself at the time, when I activated the birthing process for you, Madhea, in an instant new aging drugs were dumped into your tiny body just before you were pushed out into the world-and I didn't realize it!"

One hand came up to cover her eyes for a moment, trying to deal with some of the pain and not cry.

Madhea's little arms came up to lock around her neck, making Mew move his tail. The pokemon did so but stayed firmly in place on Sharie's narrow shoulder. He was too worried about Sharie to move.

"I didn't know it!" she said in a low voice, trembling on the edge of a dry tearless sob. "Madhea's development has seemed to mirror a normal Mew's and that is what it appeared to be. No! It wasn't so at all! I could not detect these drugs at all, but Madhea, you should not have aged hardly any differently than a human child-or you either, Mewtwo!"

Stunned silence rippled outwards from her blunt statement. Mewtwo felt as though someone had reached into his chest and was squeezing his heart painfully.

"Mewtwo, you were brutally denied any childhood at all, and Madhea's being forced through something that should be rightfully hers, too fast! There's no known antidote to these drugs and they're permanent. They were so new I could not detect them! You both were or are being artificially aged because, in another timeline maybe, you'd have grown up all the sooner to be brutally used against your will!"

Sharie struggled to not make her voice rise with her increasing emotions. "And...and that is not the worst of it."

She took a deep breath. "If only I had known, I could have spared Madhea so much pain...and I don't know who stole my DNA or _when_...but Madhea's human DNA comes...from me."

* * *

A lingering silence hung around her nearly-whispered words. 

"Any of the pain Madhea's suffered due to her quirky psychic nature...it wasn't from her Mew DNA at all. It was mine. From me. My fault. And I didn't know..."

Madhea was staring at her, wonderment in her purple eyes. "Sharie?" she squeaked. "I'm a part of you?"

Sharie gave her a faint smile. "Yes, kiddo. I didn't know before now but...maybe I should have. The signs were right there the whole time, after all." She stared into the purple eyes that were so colored like her own...like Mewtwo's were. The knowledge of where they came from now haunted her.

Madhea touched Sharie's face with a little hand and then gingerly touched her own, her purple eyes wide and thoughtful.

"A part of me has always wished we really were sisters," she said quietly but with emphasis. "And now we are!"

Sharie's eyes again brimmed with tears that could not fall. "I am the cause of a lot of your pain, Madhea. Your quirky psychic nature apparently comes from me, not your Mew heritage. And you're going to grow up far faster than any girl should have her childhood ripped from her."

"Then I'll grow up, won't I? Nothing will change between us! None of what happened was your fault. How could you blame yourself for that? I certainly don't. It's your DNA, not you."

Sharie sighed and hugged her close. "You do not mind facing the facts before you, little one? In colder terms you are a partial clone of me and are growing much faster than you should have, and the pain your powers have given you comes from me. That is the blatant truth."

"It was you who taught me that those things do not matter, it is the soul that does. Why should these new facts change the stronger ones?"

The little girl's innocent wisdom touched Sharie's heart, and despite herself she smiled. "I do not want that to change, Madhea. I love you too much for that."

"Then it has not changed." The little girl gave her an impish grin. "Geez...you would think you hated the idea that I'll grow taller than you or something!"

"Madhea!" Sharie giggled and kissed her cheek. "That day will be all too soon, unfortunately. You'll likely be as tall as Mewtwo or nearly so. I doubt you picked up my tinyness in the process."

"Let's hope not!" came the mischevious reply.

"Madhea..." Sharie said in a mock warning tone.

The child laughed and pounced on her, knocking her backwards and nearly knocking the breath from her lungs in the process.

Mewtwo watched this silently. He was glad some of the coldness in the area had fled, but he still had concerns.

"You do not know how your genetic makeup was taken from you?" he asked seriously.

Reluctantly Sharie slid Madhea off her, back into her lap, sitting up and meeting his gaze directly.

"No. My father would never have authorized such a thing, nor my uncle either. I kept the deeper parts of my powers a secret from as many people as possible. It was known already that I was a freak."

She glanced pointedly down at her thin frame. "Someone would have had to take, say, a blood sample when I was not even aware of it, and that would have been very difficult to do. I can scarcely think of a time when something like that would occur."

"Mew...mew," Mew uttered quietly.

Sharie flushed. "Except for that," she conceded quietly, referring to the memory block Mew had mentioned.

It was unnerving. A part of her felt used; she had been violated without permission. And that had led to Madhea's creation...but she'd not give up the little girl so dear to her heart for anything. And yet the child had been created with such awful purposes in mind!

Someone had learned enough of Sharie's guarded secrets to believe her powers would be a valuable asset to a Mewtwo. The thought was extremely sickening, especially when Sharie reflected on the consequences Madhea had been forced to suffer.

Mew came floating over, a couple apples in his tiny hands.

"Sharie, I think you need to eat something, then get some more rest," he admonished gently, handing her one apple and Madhea the other. "After a night like last night and early this morning, you're still wiped out."

Obediently, for Sharie really was too tired to even deny it, she took the proffered apple and bit into it absently.

She reached over and turned the pokegear off, not wanting to read the words on it again. They were already seared into her memory.

* * *

Outside, the wind howled unmercifully, and the storm still raged strong. 

The young man wondered if he would end up being blown away, him and his whole pokemon team.

Keeping a fire going was impossible in this weather, and he could not continue to abuse his pokemon's fire powers more than he felt he had. It made them tired eventually and he cared about his team too much to press the point.

He was still miles from the bus station run by Luna Carson, even though the huge sides of Mt. Quena loomed in the distance.

Just looking at that awesome natural structure gave the young man a chill of something he thought he ought to recognize, even though he wasn't sure what. It was as if the mountain contained some secret he already knew.

_I wonder if it had to do with that girl_...

He shrugged _that _thought off immediately. Nothing indicated to him that what he'd seen was more than a product of his imagination and/or, his overtired brain.

Most girls didn't do what he was sure he saw. Even his own limited powers fell far short of that kind of thing.

However, some stubborn inner itch insisted that what he had seen was real enough, warring with his conscious thoughts about the matter.

Things often were more than what they seemed. _That pokemon_ he recalled all too clearly surely had been, and the thin, practically invisible sheet of biological plastic encasing his body proved that. It was the only thing that let him move so freely after suffering such horrible injuries...him, and the shivering Eevee curled tightly in his lap...

* * *

Sharie had finally fallen back asleep, Madhea curled beside her in the bedroll. Rapidash had voluntarily settled nearby with the intent to keep them toasty warm, and Mewtwo was left alone with his thoughts. 

So! Madhea, the child he adored so much, was part of Sharie, part of her family, as much as he was.

Did the fact truly bother him? Was she suddenly tainted by the fact in his eyes?

The thought resounded in his head, No.

If he had accepted that idea he'd have rejected one of the deepest beliefs Ash Ketchum had managed to instill in his awakened heart.

_The circumstances of one's birth are irrelevant. It is what you DO with the gift of life that determines who you are._

And with Madhea he certainly was coming to know who she was, and that was something he understood he could never give up now.

The child was as sweet and pure as ever. He would never again dream she could be otherwise, just because of her blood.


	18. A Boy And His Eevee

_Disclaimer: NYMN. This is chapter 18 of Moonlight Shadows. At least you didn't have to wait so long for this one. I'm finally bringing in that mysterious guy who's been lingering around the last few chapters. Neoraven first inspired the idea for such a character and I give him due credit and thanks. Neoraven, if you do read this, know that much of my memory for the original discussion of this character has faded...I hope you like how Anji turned out anyways._

_And no, I do not consider that Mewtwo and Madhea might be too closely related after the recent revelation of who their human DNA came from. The Mew parts of them were from unrelated individuals and Sharie after all carries only part of her father's DNA and thus it would be even further diluted in Madhea. Trust me, I weighed this over carefully and spoke with a number of people beforehand to determine their thoughts before I took this path. It bothered nobody. If _YOU_ are bothered, I'm not making you read further and will accept no comments against the subject. If not, enjoy._

Of Moonlight Shadows and Echoes Past chapter 18

It was early the next morning.

Sharie was delighted at Nidoqueen's splendid recovery from her emergency c-section. That had been a huge risk taken, without a doubt, but mother and babies were all coming through just fine. She wanted the mother to continue to rest for a day or so, but nothing was hampering her recovery.

The pink little shiny Nidoqueen baby was getting quite a lot of attention. Her unusual coloring made her a fine curiosity for all her siblings, especially the older ones, when they were allowed to come closer to greet their new brothers and sisters.

She was also a bit smaller than usual, but Sharie had seen shiny pokemon before and knew that such pokemon sometimes tended to be on the small side when compared to others in their species--but rarely did this diminsh their strength or stats.

None of this mattered anyways to her curious siblings, who were just in awe of her pretty coloring.

So was the baby Nidoran female for that matter. She was a bit smaller than the rest, except for her Shiny Nidoqueen sister.

Madhea adored being around them, and she'd take any opprotunity given by the parents to pick up and cuddle the little ones, just taking care to avoid poison-tipped horns, although newborns were rarely poisonous.

Her devotion was such that it made Mew giggle. "She'll be a good mommy one day," he quipped in his usual high-spirited fashion, amused at watching Madhea cuddle and coo over the babies.

Sharie had to admit to herself the picture _was_ cute, although privately she was in no hurry to have Madhea grow up any faster than she already was.

As for Mewtwo, every time _he_ saw Madhea cuddling the babies-it was subtle, but Sharie was aware that for some reason, he always blushed and turned aside, afraid to be caught blushing.

She didn't ask, for his thoughts were his own, but she had a vague idea that it had at least something to do with the fact that he knew very little about children, pokemon or human. Although he was privately fond of all of Nidoqueen and Rhyhorn's offspring, it was a distant sort of fondness and he had scarcely gotten involved with them personally besides seeing to their safety. He didn't know _how_.

Nor did he believe he was capeable of such a thing, of being a father or the act that _normally_ created life in the first place. He'd shut himself off from such thoughts or the possibility of those feelings far too long ago.

Madhea was very important to him, on a level deeper than either knew at the moment. He'd not give her up for anything or anyone; not when the little girl gave him such joy to be around. However, even he privately knew none of his feelings were fatherly. Madhea was everything positive to him and the rest...his raw, bruised heart just didn't understand.

Sharie was very slowly beginning to see more than what either Mewtwo or Madhea certainly understood, but she knew that only time would tell here. Madhea was still an innocent child and it would not truly come to the fore for some time. Mewtwo needed more time to trust his own heart to open up further and he wasn't ready for that yet-a thought that made Sharie's heart ache for him.

* * *

The storm had finally wore itself out, and it was a beautiful morning. The sun shone and the trees outside dripped colorful drops of water, creating prisms in the sunlight, and the air was sweet and warm.

It was such an inviting scene that some of the pokemon in the caverns were wanting to hang around outside down by the river in the rugged terrain. The opprotunity to really stretch out in the sunlight was too good to pass up, especially on such a beautiful day.

A number of the older Rhyhorn and Nidoqueen children were included in wanting to go outside, so Mewtwo, with just a shade of reluctance due to concerns for their safety, telekenetically lifted them up and flew them outside into the valley below, well away from the bus house belonging to Luna Carson and Cullen Calix.

Even Sharie had to admit it was easy to forget all her problems and worries in the face of such beautiful weather. She stayed happily by the riverbank, helping Madhea to pick flowers and watching the child in abject amusement as she created flower chains to put on the heads of the older Nidoqueen children. A few Bellossom nearby giggled at this and went on with their dancing.

Little did they know they had been spied and were being watched by a very surprised young man. Even Mewtwo, staring into space and lost in his own thoughts, did not lower his barriers enough to sense a human presence nearby.

He could not have been more surprised if he had come across a _herd_ of Mewtwos, much less what he saw.

It was him! It was _that pokemon_! The one who had been responsible for his condition that day ages ago...

So! The Dr. Triesta brother that had given him back his ability to walk had been right!

Mewtwo, the pokemon created by two of his other brothers, was no longer in the hands of Team Rocket and was freely living his own life but...wasn't that a little Mewtwo with him? The young man was overcome with a wave of confusion. Since when had a second one been created and...

_Oh, my gods_, he thought to himself, feeling another wave of shock reverberate through him. _I wasn't seeing things after all!_

A human girl was with them as naturally as if she belonged there, and it was the girl he had seen in the malestrom of the recent storm, hovering in midair and not getting the least bit wet, then disappearing into thin air!

If he revealed he was here, he wondered just how much danger he was placing himself in, despite the assurance of the Dr. Triesta that Mewtwo wasn't quite the same as he had been. The doctor had never explained how he knew.

Nor had his brothers, Mewtwo's creators, when he had finally seen and spoken to them. While hinting Mewtwo was out here in the reigon, and one of them had stated his own daughter was traveling in the Johto reigon as well, they'd said nothing else, certainly nothing identifying-or how they knew for that matter.

He had no time to dwell on his thoughts. There was a splash and something that sounded like an agonizing wail, and he was witness to a terrifying sight.

* * *

One of the older Nidoqueens had escaped her father's watchful attention and wandered downstream a bit. She climbed a rock overlooking the river, playing and not paying much attention, getting ever closer to a patch of moss near the edge. She slipped suddenly and cried out as she hit the water and was swiftly swept away.

Her distressed wail was heard by Sharie and Madhea at once. They immediately started running along the riverbank, trying frantically to locate a pokemon that was not overly strong in water and had certainly not learned Surf to help her swim.

Sharie, in desperation, finally saw her little head bobbing as she was swept into a slightly wider area of river that was home to some powerful currents, including some deep down, sure to suck the older baby into their depths and lose her forever.

Without thinking about herself, she hurled her small body into the river, swimming as hard as she could to catch up to the tiny body that was pulled under by a current stronger than she was. The baby Nidoqueen could not resurface.

"_Go_! Vaporeon! Help her!"

She nearly froze for a split second to see a human male come out of nowhere, and a flash of light indicating a pokemon released from a pokeball. In one second, nearby in the water appeared a Vaporeon out of the red light that had held it.

Sharie didn't have time to think. Time was of the essence, and the problem with the male human having seen them had to wait.

She dove under the water without another hitch, desperately fighting her way in the myriad currents towards towards the helpless little baby now held in suspended animation deep in the water below. The little Nidoqueen was caught between two eddies that held her still but not able to let her break free. Already her movements were weakening.

And psychically, Sharie sensed her lifeforce beginning to dim as well.

Sharie's heart twisted desperately, and she summoned her psychic powers. She found herself trying hard to do something she'd never before done in controlling such amazingly powerful currents so deep underwater. She was fighting to make it easier for her to get closer so she could use her powers more naturally. This was out of even her range of experience with her own powers.

Before her, like a shot, the strange Vaporeon dashed ahead to do it's trainer's bidding. It's eyes began to glow and, with the natural ease that comes to water pokemon, showed a level of control better than what Sharie currently knew how to summon when it came to such deep underwater currents.

The water around the drowning baby began to at last soften between the efforts of the two of them, and Sharie kicked desperately forward.

There appeared another shadow in the water, and far above, yet another.

One was the cloned Vaporeon, also having reached the river to jump in and help, and to her private horror, the one far above and peering anxiously down was Madhea!

_Madhea, get out of the river!_ Sharie sent frantically, using all her strength to keep kicking downwards and her mind starting to grow fuzzy from lack of oxygen.

_Never! _came back the little voice in her mind furiously. _Do you think I'd ever see this and not help you, or gods forbid watch you drown too!_

_I won't drown! Now please get out of the river!_

Madhea, who was well above the furious currents below her, was not inclined to listen. She bolstered her own psychic powers, even though she had as little knowledge as Sharie when it came to powerful deep-water eddies and how to control them.

In the end, her distant help was the final clincher between the four of them to overcome such a powerful underwater monster and free the baby Nidoqueen so Sharie could surge desperately forward and clasp it to her bosom and, with her remaining strength, kick furiously upwards towards the surface.

Just in time, she broke the surface of the water, terribly dizzy and gasping hard for air. She felt psychic energy, Mewtwo's signature in that energy, lift her and the baby Nidoqueen up and deposit them both safely on the riverbank.

Coughing and gasping, Sharie wasted no time. She struggled up and flipped the baby Nidoqueen onto her back, sealing her lips around the little muzzle and blowing into them once, twice. Psychically she was grateful to still sense a weak, rapid heartbeat.

On the third try the baby pokemon's little back arched and her chest violently quivered. She turned her head and heaved, coughing out a stream of water that had been caught in her lungs and started gasping for air, breathing on her own.

She would be all right.

Only then, still rasping heavily, did Sharie flop back onto the riverbank and let the baby's terrified and grateful father take over.

Her profound relief at the outcome of this adventure was mixed with a rare true anger at Madhea for having so willfully risked her own life. If Madhea had drowned too Sharie knew it would have destroyed what was left of her heart.

However her anger began to instantly fade the moment she saw Madhea standing there, her eyes brimming with tears. She'd picked up on that anger when all she'd wanted to do was help, which she had done.

Sharie gave her a tremulous smile and opened her arms wide, and Madhea rushed into them, beginning to cry.

"Sharie? You're not angry at me?" cried the little girl, burying her face in Sharie's neck.

The young woman held onto the trembling little body as if she'd never let go, struggling to answer truthfully her own mixed-up feelings.

"You terrified me, Madhea," she rasped as gently as she could. "But...it is _I _who have to let you learn to stand on your own two feet, Madhea, and be independent. Your help saved the baby Nidoqueen. Just..." Sharie felt her own eyes well with tears thad dindn't fall. She stroked the shivering little form in her arms, calming her down.

"If I had lost you too, it'd have killed me. That is something I cannot stand." Sharie's amethyst eyes closed against the wave of images threatening to dance tauntingly before them. "Still you are growing up and in the end your help was the right thing. It's my feelings for you versus letting you decide your fate for your own. No, I cannot be angry, just very afraid of losing you. And--thank you for helping to save the little one."

She pulled back, reaching up and wiping the tearstains from Madhea's cheeks. The little girl smiled at her.

It was only then they noticed Mewtwo, whose attention from the drama had been diverted by the presence of the human male, whom he was now holding immoble by psychic energy but otherwise not harming him, nor the Eevee or Vaporeon beside him.

Any human around in his mind was too clearly a threat and had to be taken care of in one way or another.

The young man's face was impassive, almost resigned.

Sharie, feeling extremely weak and slightly dizzy, struggled to her feet.

"Mewtwo, please release him," she said to him quietly. "His Vaporeon helped save the baby Nidoqueen's life. I am sure he means no harm."

Mewtwo regarded her, then the young man for a long moment, before releasing him against his better judgement. For some reason he found could not refuse Sharie's request.

"It is true I will not reward a good act with a cruel one," he said, a warning in his tone at the young man. "But his memory must be erased of what he has seen here this day. The risk is too great for him to know of our existence."

"But I already knew of your existence, Mewtwo," said the young man, speaking for the first time as he flexed his body, as well as the Eevee with him and the loyal Vaporeon. "I have known for a long time, since the time our paths first crossed."

He bent down and picked up his Eevee as he spoke.

Sharie was staring at him, and a flicker of familiarity washed over her-_she'd seen that face before. But-where?_

He was fairly handsome with longish dark hair pulled back in a ponytail, high cheekbones, slightly bronzed skin and snappy, intense dark eyes that missed nothing. He was tall and his build was fairly slender but not overly so. He carried himself with the manner of someone who was certainly not of a weak build.

"I had heard whispers that you were out here," said the young man, standing up straight. "I knew it might be a foolish risk I took but I felt our paths had to cross again."

All at once Sharie was overwhelmed by a violent recollection. The images surged unbidden into her mind in a flood of memories that were not her own.

"_I knew I'd seen your face_!" she cried out. "We've never met but I've seen your face! You were in one of my visions I used to have of Mewtwo!"

Mewtwo, staring at the young man, suddenly also began to remember. His purple eyes widened with the memories that coincided with Sharie's so perfectly.

_Flash_

"You've interfered with us for the last time, kid," snarled the Team Rocket executive to the young man and his Eevee. "The Boss doesn't take too kindly to your trying to prevent his forays into the Safari Zone."

"Illegal forays!" snapped the boy. "And you steal pokemon you have no right to take! Pokemon are not _things_ to be used by people without regards to what they might feel themselves!"

"Yeah, well, your old man, all told, was loyal to Team Rocket. How could his kid be so backwards? No wonder he disowned you years ago before he died. You would only create trouble, and now you've done so for this last time."

"I _won't_ let you get away with this!" snarled the young man.

"Such fire in you, I'll grant you that." mocked the executive. "Tell ya what. If you can beat a pokemon I borrowed from the Boss I'll let you go free this time. You don't and it'll cost you heavily. I leave you no choice in the matter. Prepare to lose."

He snapped his fingers, and materializing out of thin air via Teleport came a pokemon the young man had never before seen, a very tall one, purple and with a long tail. Even stranger, he wore armor.

"What kind of pokemon is _that_, may I ask?" huffed the young man, not quite believing what he saw.

"You may _not_ ask. It doesn't matter. He's unbeatable. Good luck getting in even one shot." Laughing, the executive stepped back to enjoy the show.

"Your bad luck for underestimating my Eevee," snapped the young man. "Go, my little friend! Return!"

Much to both the surprise of the executive and, apparently, the unknown pokemon, the Eevee got in a hard shot, barrelling directly to his opponent's midsection, enough to warrant a good bruise. Only a pokemon near peak level could have stood even a whist of a chance of doing what it had done.

There had seemed no chance at all for such a tiny little pokemon in the first place.

He was sent hurling back by a wave of psychic energy.

Even the executive was amazed. "You've done a first, I'll grant you that," he snarled. "Don't you see now what you'd have become if you'd taken your father's place in Team Rocket? With your skill? I've never seen an Eevee do that. But your chance is gone. Destroy them both!"

The strange pokemon launched a ball of psychic energy towards Eevee in response.

"Dodge it, Eevee!" cried his trainer. "Return again, with Hidden Power!"

There was a flash, an explosion, and Mewtwo had felt himself seared with a powerful wave of pain. _Something_ about that move was Super Effective against him! There was a secret in that mysterious little Eevee that had taken a bad toll on him!

When the dust cleared, the armor he was wearing was badly cracked and damaged, and he was trembling with acute physical pain, not to mention sheer astonishment.

"They are a true threat-and the Boss will kill me over this strange Eevee!" the executive was heard to mutter to himself frantically. "Blast them!" he commanded his pokemon. "Use Psychic with everything you got!"

The young man had seen the wave hurling straight for his Eevee and had flung himself directly in it's path in an attempt to save his pokemon before everything for him had gone black.

In Sharie's memory, before she woke up, the Executive had left them both for dead.

_Flash_

"So you did _not_ die," Mewtwo's voice held no hint of emotion. He simply made the statement. There was no readable emotion even on his face.

Even though the boy had been told later that Mewtwo could psychically think in human words, it was still a bit of a surprise to hear the words echo so distinctly in his mind. Usually it took powerful bonds between trainer and psychic pokemon to generate even _something_ like that, and even then it wasn't true translation...just a knowing.

"No, I did not die," said the young man quietly. "I was found in time by the Safari Zone's Officer Jenny. But I was paralyzed from the waist down and my Eevee here nearly died. If one of your creators' brothers hadn't been there that day and saw me through my recovery, I'd have never walked again. Dr. Triesta is the sole reason my pokemon or myself is on our feet."

"Which one of them?" Sharie dared to ask, although she had a feeling she already knew. One uncle specialized in using biotechnology to help badly injured pokemon.

"Dr. Timmin Triesta." He paused and stared at her hard. "I saw you the other night out in the storm," he stated in an even voice. "I thought I was seeing things when you disappeared so suddenly. How do you know them?"

Sharie felt color and heat rising to her face as his dark eyes bored into hers. "I sensed I'd been seen, that is why I disappeared," she muttered. "I know Dr. Lyris Triesta because he is my uncle. Dr. Daryn Fuji Triesta and Dr. Donningan Triesta, Mewtwo's creators...the former is my uncle, and the latter is my father."

He gave her a surprised glance. "Last time I saw them your father mentioned that his psychic scientist daughter was traveling out here in the Johto reigon," he said carefully.

"And what else did he say?" she asked guardedly. Her arms around Madhea tightened reflexively.

"_Nothing_, actually."

"Nothing at all?"

"Not a word."

"Not even about-" Sharie cast a quick glance in Mewtwo's direction. The pokemon only narrowed his purple eyes.

"_Especially_ not him, except to mutter something about the Johto reigon where you were traveling, and I don't think he meant me to hear it-and that you were out of Giovanni's hands."

"Then why are you out here?" asked Mewtwo, an edge to his voice. "You do not strike me as a person bent on a pleasure trip."

"It seemed a fruitless trip but I did somehow hope that our paths would cross again." he said, knowing lying was useless with so many psychics around. Now that he was actually face-to-face with a scene he hadn't really ever expected to face, it was hard to know exactly what to think-or hard to not believe his life was in danger.

"Didn't that strike you as rather risky?" Sharie asked, a tad disbelievingly.

"Sure it did. Do you think I forgot my last encounter with him? When I have to wear _this_ daily?"

He lifted his shirt slightly in a bold gesture that barely revealed a thin sheen of bioplastic clinging skin-tight to his body. "This is the only reason I can currently _walk_. My Eevee eventually recovered, thank gods. We're lucky we're alive right now, much less able to move."

Sharie could not stop a wave of coldness sweep over her body as she recognized something that was definetly her uncle's enginneering. Once again the memory, something not even hers, danced before her eyes. This boy had, after all, been trying to protect other pokemon and he had been defying Team Rocket. Didn't that mean...?

"Are your thoughts of some sort of revenge?" she asked, her voice gone very quiet now.

The boy dropped his shirt and stared first at her, and then at Mewtwo, looking him directly in the eye, strangely unafraid. "I don't know what my thoughts are, truthfully," he said seriously. "But revenge...no. There was a time even I wondered but...no. Not revenge."

He was being honest, and Sharie knew it.

Before Mewtwo could reply, she interrupted him. "What is your name?" she asked in place of anything Mewtwo might have said.

"My name is Anji," he said quietly, and suddenly her purple eyes flickered to his collar, where a small but distinctive badge said, "B+" with a pokemon master logo in the background.

So, this kid, like her, had a rare Master's ranking in the Pokemon League--and his was only slightly lower than hers. In her memory she'd never seen such a powerful unevolved Eevee, and it took someone with the rarest kinds of talents to have trained it to get in even one shot at Mewtwo in the first place.

She decided to go with her gut instincts on this one. Something deep down told her this boy could be trusted.

"I'd like to take him up to Mt. Quena, Mewtwo," she said suddenly to the psychic pokemon beside her. He had still been silently studying Anji all this time while betraying no expression. "I think there is more that must be spoken between all of us, but not here."

Mewtwo swallowed the strong impulse he'd had to outright say no. Privately his feelings about this matter were so mixed rational thought was out of the question. He'd learned not to make such irrational choices in planning what amounted to his life. This boy knew of their existence but was not of Team Rocket and had saved the baby Nidoqueen's life.

Sharie caught an inkling of the emotional struggle in his eyes. "I think we owe it to him, Mewtwo," she said quietly. "This is a face from your past-and in a very strange way, mine."

"He must leave behind his memories of all he has seen here once he leaves this place," Mewtwo answered steadily. "But he shall come with us."

For, reluctantly, he knew Sharie was right. He didn't know at all what was at stake here, but he knew this was another ghost from his past that had to be dealt with. He could not deal harshly with one who had saved the life of one of his clones or-he admitted to himself, one who had probably not deserved the cruel injury inflicted on him by Mewtwo's own power.

* * *

Privately, Anji was nervous. This was unexpected; even in his imaginings of what would have happened if he ever had faced Mewtwo again. Mewtwo certainly was not behaving as he had last time, nowhere near it. And he didn't want his memory erased.

But then, he thought, he knew nothing of Mewtwo's life before or since. Strange things happened to those caught under Giovanni's power. His own father had been so warped.

Sharie herself wondered if she could sort out the massive mixed feelings she was picking up on. It occured to her the minute the chaos of the baby's drowning had calmed down Mew had vanished from this stranger's sight before he'd been noticed. Sharie could see him, he was floating right above her shoulder, but she knew the boy could not.

Mew hadn't decided for himself who or what this boy was. And Mews normally stayed far out of the public eye.

Madhea had simply been staring at him with frank, childish curiosity. The huge load of mixed-up feelings floating about her had little to do with her, herself, and she did not feel really bound by them. This was a kind stranger who'd helped save a life-him, and his Vaporeon. If he did that so easily, he couldn't be all bad. She had almost never delt with a human male but she decided privately she liked this one.

Mewtwo used his psychic energy to lift all the pokemon clones to go back to Mt. Quena's hidden caverns. Sharie herself began to glow her icy color and it was she who made Anji give a startled gasp as he, his Eevee and Vaporeon, were effortlessly lifted from the ground.

"Waugh!" he yelped, afraid of falling.

"Oh, relax," Sharie quipped to him without looking at him, for she was taking Madhea firmly by her little hand.

"But you are a human and-"

"And I've never dropped anybody yet, so don't worry." Sharie knew that it certainly was much harder for most psychic humans, rare as they were, to utilize telekenesis for flying great distances, and this had to be in the boy's thoughts.

And she was beginning to suspect he had some limited abilities himself.

The boy felt himself flush, embarrassed, as Madhea glanced back at him and giggled.

Sharie looked at her and gave a faint smile, one she knew Anji could not see. She was already aware of Madhea's thoughts regarding this slender human. After all the girl hadn't been entangled by the drama of the past.

Swiftly they flew, up and over the treetops and into one of the many caverns where water splashed from the entrance, and inside where they all landed safely.

Pikachu and Meowth, who'd chosen to stay behind and nap this particular day, stopped their headlong rush towards Sharie when they caught sight of the stranger.

Bristles went along Pikachu's back and his cheeks sparked at the intrusion of such a stranger.

"Chuuuu..." he said, his body flattening on all fours in a warning pose.

Meowth just sat there and gave him a cautious glance.

"Meowth, Pikachu...it's all right. He doesn't mean any harm." Sharie was quick to stride forward to calm especially the overprotective Pikachu down. "He is here with us."

Only because he trusted her so much did Pikachu back his pose down, and let his cheeks stop sparking as her little hands stroked his back. His gaze towards Anji remained very wary though.

"Generally, they dislike humans and have good reason to," she said very quietly to Anji, getting up and turning back to them.

"Why?" he said, from where he'd been pressed nearly against the wall, startled the Pikachu might change his mind and zap him.

She could sense his genuine puzzlement.

"Anji..." she said with a sigh. "There is a lot you don't understand, and a lot we don't understand. That will all take time to explain."


	19. Easing a Pain

_**Disclaimer: NYMN. Please don't sue. **_

_**UPDATE 5/4/12: Five-plus years is a long time and I was bound to make a mistake or two that I'd not initially catch. I've made a few simple updates to this chapter to fix said mistakes: Eevee was originally female and Cameron Palace is located in Kanto, not Hoenn. The third mistake is one that will be harder to fix and will take longer: back in chapter thirteen I had indicated that Anji indeed already had an Espeon; a fact I'd forgotten about. Retconned; I can fix THAT issue another time. He still has no Espeon at present as of this chapter.**_

_**I bet that you never thought you'd see this updated again, am I right? I never thought so either...this is, truth be told, an experiment, from something that hit me like a bolt out of the blue recently while out walking, but it is also like trying on a pair of five-year-old shoes you found hiding at the bottom of your closet. I'm not sure if the fit is right anymore, and trying to fit my mind back into the pattern of this story might prove difficult, so forgive me if it sounds clumsy. My writing style has altered over the past years. On the other hand, the torrents of you begging me over the years are getting your wish. Enjoy.**_

_**Another thing-since I last wrote any chapter two more generations of Pokemon have come to the fore. I still play the games and, while I seldom watch the anime, I do keep tabs on it. Therefore, certain points from the anime or games (games mostly) might be referenced here.**_

Sharie chose her words carefully, telling Anji briefly that these clones were ones Mewtwo himself had created and that, after an abortive attempt to destroy the world, he had chosen instead to settle elsewhere peacefully-and far from Man.

"...I don't think I'm really surprised," murmured Anji after a long silence. His slender fingers ruffled through his Eevee's fur as his dark eyes digested what Sharie had told him. "Giovanni uses others for his own ends. He'd backstab anyone, human or pokemon. And has. Over and over."

"Giovanni's memories of me and of this place are now forgotten in his mind," answered Mewtwo seriously. "Along with everyone else who was involved in the attack here on Mt. Quena."

"Except a few," Anji said pointedly.

"That is true. Trust is something I rarely feel, or grant. Too few have managed to attain it, or ever will. When you leave here, Anji, you too must leave your memories behind."

"No!" Anji burst out. "All this time...maybe I didn't think about it day in and day out, but I wanted our paths to cross again. I've never been able to figure out why. I lost my anger long ago. I knew when you escaped that Giovanni had victimized you. But I didn't invest so much time and energy to have my mind wiped!"

"Chu!" Pikachu, who'd been sitting next to Anji watchfully, sprang up and his cheeks sparked warning sparks again. "Chuuuuu..."

"Hey, calm down, Anji, Pikachu," said Sharie quietly. She gave a deep sigh, hugging Madhea tighter for a moment, before relaxing her hold. "I do understand how you feel, Anji. When I first came here Mewtwo contemplated doing that to me, until he realized it would be impossible. I suggest leaving the topic alone until you are ready to leave."

"Chu! Pika..."

Anji slumped, after being near frozen by the warning lights he'd seen momentarily in Mewtwo's eyes. "I am sorry," he said low. "But...even I didn't know my feelings were so strong."

"Fate has certainly linked our paths in some very wrenching ways. That would produce strong emotion in anyone," came Sharie's words, said so low that Anji swore it almost felt psychic, rather than spoken.

The thought was echoed throughout the caverns, in the emotions of every single clone and Anji sensed it clearly; the presence of an unwelcome human was making those strong emotions alarmingly high-and that if they were _that_ high, then trust would be a very difficult thing to attain with many of them.

"Didn't you?" asked Anji, his dark eyes giving Sharie a penetrative glance. "Didn't you have your own reasons?"

"My reasons were never my own," she answered. "I had to come here, but my reasons were, and still are, whom I'm holding. For myself..." She shook her head, snuggling Madhea to her for a moment before loosening her grip and watching the child scramble out of her lap.

Madhea floated in the air for a moment, then landed on her feet. She walked the few steps to Anji, bending forward slightly and looking into his eyes with the lax restraint youth usually allowed.

"Your feelings are strong," she observed. "But you don't seem bad to me."

"Thanks for the voucher, cutie," he grinned at her, watching in secret amusement as she blinked in astonishment, her cheeks flushing red.

"Cute? A human boy thinks I'm cute?"

"Of course you're cute. I dare any person or pokemon in here to say you're _not _cute." He glanced around. "No one?"

There was a moment of silence, then Madhea found herself back in Sharie's lap, unmindful of the fact her companion was shaking with suppressed laughter.

"A _human_ boy thinks I'm cute!"

It was as if a huge crack had formed in the ice around Anji; many of the pokemon, who'd seen Madhea act amazingly forward with Mewtwo on several occasions, were astonished at how bashful she was with a simple compliment from a human boy.

The effect was amusing to the closest pokemon, including the Eevee laughing in Anji's lap. She stretched, shaking herself, and sprang to the grassy ground with a huge yawn, sensing she could now relax a little.

"Can I let my other pokemon out?" asked Anji. "I've got five others that'd like to stretch their legs. They won't make any trouble. I promise."

Mewtwo had clearly sensed the mood lighten, and he too decided that perhaps Sharie's words had merit. He'd try not to bring up erasing Anji's memories until the boy left.

"I will hold you to that promise," he answered guardedly.

Anji nodded and pulled out five more pokeballs, and releasing five other Eeveeloutions from their sleep.

Eevee and Vaporeon had already been out, and now Sharie mentally saw Glaceon, Umbreon, Jolteon, Leafeon, and Flareon take shape as their energy solidified.

_He's only missing one in the set-An Espeon_, she thought to herself.

Beside her, she saw Meowth count to himself, then look at her. "Nahnyaneow?"

"Yes, he does have seven. A privelege of Masters with a B+ ranking or higher," she admitted.

"Yes," answered Anji, hearing this. "I became friends with all of them over time, and they each chose to evolve into something different. All but my little friend here," he admitted, standing up and taking his Eevee with him. "She hasn't wanted to evolve."

"Isn't she around peak level?" asked Sharie.

"She is, although she can still get stronger," answered Anji. "The reason she delivered such a strong blow that day to you Mewtwo is because her Hidden Power is of the Dark type. That coming from a max-level _any_ pokemon would cause any psychic pokemon to feel bruised, so far as I know."

"Coming from a time when I foolishly thought that I was a partner to a human and we stood as equals," said Mewtwo with great bitterness.

"To a man who just _uses_ for his own gain," answered Anji with great seriousness.

Here Sharie stood up, putting Madhea down but not releasing the little girl's hand. She walked over and stared Anji straight in the eyes.

"There are times when one's pain is so great we'll believe anything we're told that promises to ease the pain...even if they are great lies," she said with quiet directness.

He looked down at her for several long seconds, the silence stretching on, before sighing and looking at the grass.

"I know what you are saying," he said softly. He glanced at Madhea, shyly peeking around Sharie's legs, her eyes full of an uncertain bashfulness. He smiled gently at her and held out his hand towards her.

She glanced further around Sharie's form at him, and Anji felt like his very soul was being scrutinized. He was taking a long chance and he knew it, but he didn't withdraw his hand.

She smiled a bit bashfully at him and reached out, placing her other little hand in his and, in effect, giving him her trust.

"You're empathic a little bit and I can feel it. You don't know how to control it enough to decieve or lie with it. So you're okay!"

Anji felt a slight stain spread across his features. "You felt that?" he asked uneasily.

"Sure I did and I know Sharie did too back out there. She knew you weren't a liar or you'd not be in here."

Sharie swallowed and nodded slowly when Mewtwo glanced at her. "He's mildly empathic, but not able to really build sheilds around that like I do, or to cloud it," she clarified.

"Are you saying I'm easy to read?"

"I'm saying I know when empathic energy is being misdrected to represent something else-if I choose to look for it. I have to actively look for it," she answered. "At least I can say that you are not a liar."

He shook his head. "I am most certainly not a liar. I'm not my old man! He can rot in his Rocket Executive position for all I care!"

He stopped and looked at Sharie again. "How is it you know of that day? How are you able to have visions of Mewtwo?"

"I do not have a core answer to give you. Over time at certain periods of stress in his life I've lost consciousness and been at his side in his mind and him mostly unaware of it. I'd seen those things as he saw them and often felt them as he felt them. My own feelings have not usually been so different from his. Why this came to be..." she shrugged.

Anji's eyes slid from focusing on her as she uttered her last sentence, to some place by her shoulder. She saw it and realized the reason even as his mouth opened slightly-and quickly shut.

"I think Mew thinks it is okay for you to see him, I trust?" she said with a smile, not even looking to the side. She heard Mew's giggle as his tail wrapped loosely around her neck like it had so often of late and he sat on her shoulder.

He'd stayed invisible this entire time. She could see him, but she had known Anji couldn't.

"Mew! Mew myuuuuu!" affirmed the pink creature on her shoulder.

"A Mew!" Anji breathed. "I never thought-wow, I'm really honored."

Mew giggled again, disappearing via Teleport to pop back into existence right in front of Anji, peering so closely at the boy they nearly touched noses. When Anji reached out to touch him, Mew vanished again and appeared a few inches off to the side, giggling like mad.

"Mew was reserved with you, so you couldn't see him," Sharie said with an amused sigh as Mew giggled and vanished again, only to reappear on her shoulder with his tail around her neck once more.

"And you could?" Anji wasn't sure if he should feel offended or not by a pokemon said in myth to be both very wise and very childlike; traits both clearly true.

"Yes, I could. Most Mews typically stay away from people."

"Hmmph. Not the one near Cameron Palace in the Kanto reigon, if the tales are true."

"That one?" Sharie closed her eyes a moment. She'd heard other pokemon talking about it. "Yes, I know that Mew likes to goof around with people sometimes, usually in disguise. The ruler of that small land knows the truth."

From Mewtwo's look of intense puzzlement, she clarified. "Mew, didn't you ever tell him you were not the only one out there still alive?"

"It never came up," answered Mew. "But I thought he realized that. There are a small number of mews scattered worldwide. I know of the Mew of which you speak."

Intense bewilderment crossed Anji's face. "Uh...you can speak Pokemon languages?" he blurted.

Sharie simply nodded. "And understand them. I think you sort of do."

"You spoke of my barely-there empathy. It is mostly geared to that. I don't know how you're able to understand them word for word. My empathy lets me cross certain barriers of communication so while what they say-the sounds-do not make sense to me, somehow the general feel of it gets through."

"My ability is different so I cannot tell you exactly why. You also would not be able to learn it." Sharie shook her head.

Anji stared at Mew. "Didn't you say something about...knowing the Mew from around Cameron Palace?"

Mew nodded slowly. He glanced at Sharie, who nodded, translating what Mew spoke so what Anji _could_ pick up got greater detail.

"Sometimes pokemon with great power have chosen to assume great responsibility. That Mew's life and health are tied to an entire hidden ecosystem in that Tree of Life near Cameron Palace. If that ecosystem is destroyed, that Mew dies."

"Legend has it Mews are immortal," answered Anji.

"We are not immortal. We can attain great age but we do grow old and die, or can become sick and die. That Mew gets very lonely for companionship because he usually stays isolated the very system he protects. Due to his isolation, he's also so innocent he makes _me_ seem like a sober old Persian. So sometimes he does venture out to the palace and steals toys or uses Transform to disguise himself and play with pokemon or people. Isolation like that has a high cost."

"Aren't you?" Anji couldn't help but ask.

"I have not bound my lifeforce to a hidden nirvana. But it does not mean I don't oversee certain things."

"And now add two Mewtwos to those with great power..." Anji mused. He glanced at Madhea and smiled, but his eyes were serious. "You know, earlier when I first saw you, I was surprised there was another. Now that I've had time to go back over what I know...I really should not have been surprised. You, Madhea, and meeting you, Sharie...there were some odd things in the past I learned, and none of it made much sense until now."

* * *

"How so?" asked Mewtwo cautiously.

"I'm not making a secret of the fact my old man's a Team Rocket executive. He's disowned me for not following in his footsteps, and I can live with that. I can't go with the philosophy he's set. But because of him being an executive, I have known others in the group and I still have ears there that have whispered bits of information from me from time to time."

With a sigh Anji flopped back to the ground, legs crossed, for a moment idly watching his Eevee-based team slowly and cautiously begin to interact with all the pokemon clones around them.

"There were whispers of Giovanni not satisfied with one Mewtwo. Whispers of further attempts. Of a different cloning process. Talk of special human DNA taken unawares from a very unusual psychic girl, of how..." Anji trailed off and looked directly at Sharie.

_How? _she said, so low he realized her mouth had not moved; he had heard her voice in his mind.

"Your old man wasn't keen on expanding the Mewtwo project underway a few years ago," he answered seriously. "Giovanni had a traitor infiltrate the staff. Seems to me his daughter was at some point unconscious for a very long time. Something strange was happening. I don't know what. He had her in one of those liquid-filled tanks so he could watch over her. It was then that an unauthorized DNA sample was obtained, intended for another Mewtwo specimin whose plans were still on the drawing board."

* * *

There was a dead, cool silence.

Sharie gave Anji a look of horror, before bending down and picking up Madhea, who went willingly. The child's eyes were wide; what was said was not lost on her any more than it was lost on Sharie or Mewtwo himself.

"So...with everything I've learned today..." Anji shook his head, aware of what a fine line he was walking with his words. Yet it seemed wrong to leave them unsaid. "It would seem a lot more here makes sense. I could be wrong...but am I?"

Sharie's eyes misted over. "Madhea is a partial clone of myself, and something we only just found out about," she said quietly.

Anji only nodded, slowly, and his eyes were both sad and symapthetic.

"As I said before...that man stops at nothing, using others for his own ends."

Abruptly he shook his head hard. "But...I've never believed in just being the sum of one's parts. You shouldn't believe that either."

"Believe me, Madhea has never for _one instance_ believed that," Sharie asserted-and with a smile. Madhea pressed her face to Sharie's shirt, and giggled.

* * *

_A little while later_

"You're very devoted to her, and I admire that," Anji admitted to Sharie, watching from a distance as Mewtwo and Madhea stood side by side at one of the entrances into the mountainside, her little hand clasped firmly in his.

"Madhea's my whole reason for being," answered Sharie simply.

"Your whole reason?" he asked, cocking an eyebrow at her in puzzlement.

"I never had a reason for existing except as a misfit human who seemed more pokemon than human until I chose to find the baby mewtwo in a lost lab and save her. I knew then that If I ever had any reason to exist, it was for her, and to a lesser extent, undo some of the damage my very blood has caused from the past."

He stared at her in astonishment. _She entirely existed for Madhea? For...for...? Is there nothing else?_

His surprise must have showed on his face, for she only shook her head.

"My empty heart filled the day I looked into her newborn eyes, that reflected moonlight so brilliantly. It is all I need or want."

"...So you're staying here then?" he asked, finding his tongue.

"I stay where she goes."

He swallowed, seeing in her purple eyes how very much she meant it.

She closed those eyes, deciding it was best to change the subject before her emotions overcame her mind.

"Your injury, Anji. Is your spine badly damaged?"

"It is compressed but any human operation would make it beyond repair. This bioplaster I wear circumvents what damage there is."

Her eyes opened and looked at him speculatively. "Anji. What have you heard about Mt. Quena?"

His eyebrows raised. "That's an odd question. Dangerous weather around here, if the last few days have been any indication! Very hard to get across the valley, and that's for darned sure. The water is clean and pure here and tastes wonderful, rumor has it. I was on my way to that bus station when I saw what I thought was a mirage in the storm in the form of a girl flying, surrounded by a field that kept her from getting wet."

Sharie blushed scarlet.

"Since that isn't something I ever expected to see, I was sure my eyes were playing tricks on me. I'm glad they weren't, as far as that goes. I've not been known to just see things."

She gave him a little smile at that.

But what he'd said sent her mind drifting. If that was the truth of his injury, and he was so unaware of the miracle of Mt. Quena spring water, then maybe it wasn't so impossible to undo the damage caused all that time ago. But...allowing that was up to Mewtwo, as far as she was concerned.

* * *

"Would you consider it?" she asked.

"I am not sure then how he'd take realizing his injuries were healed when before, they weren't, when he wakes up from his memories being erased. That is a hole he won't be able to explain away to himself," Mewtwo answered with great seriousness.

They were alone, when Sharie had managed to unobtrusively corner him.

"The past has been an ugly thing, for you, and for him," she said quietly, understanding his greatest concern.

"I know," he said. His mind flashed back to that day. In his pain, in his closed heart, a lot less had mattered then than it did now.

"You're both victims," she said softly.

"Yes," he said softly. "But on one very awful day, he became mine."

Mewtwo reached out and one of his fingertips lightly brushed Sharie's cheek. "I remember a girl who came here and offered her blood in place of those who came before her, to erase the taint of what they did," he said, his voice unusually gentle.

"I can offer this boy not my blood, but water from the spring I've chosen to protect. You could not remove my memories, but you brought me Madhea."

_And eased his pain. Now Mewtwo knows he can do this. He hasn't yet removed the memories, but he can begin easing the pain from them for Anji, too._

* * *

"You're...sure?" Anji was a mixture of excitement-disbelief-hope, all mixed up. "Is this water really that powerful?"

"It gave Mewtwo new life. It gave me my strength back. It gave Madhea health when she had suffered before. It should heal your injury."

He stood up, staring at the walls around them. "And Giovanni never knew it? He just came here to build a new base and contaminate the spring? What an idiot!"

Sharie's eyes lowered, and she stared at her reflection in the nearest water pool. "And that is why Luna Carson and Cullen Calix also had their memories removed. They had recognized the potential of the miracle waters. Luna would not have interfered, but Cullen got carried away, wanting to expose it to the world."

"I'd never tell," Anji said quickly, and meant it. "I haven't struggled so long against Team Rocket to start behaving like them now."

"I believe you on that account," said Mewtwo. "I cannot undo the past...but I can do something here to right a wrong I made."

Anji closed his eyes and opened them, looking at Mewtwo squarely. "I forgave it-forgave you-long before I ever came here. Long ago. The evil, the wrong, was never really you. I know it. Please believe me."

"I do believe it," said Mewtwo, and he spoke the truth.

"I think I know now what I didn't know earlier...why I felt a strong urge to find you again one day," said Anji slowly, even as Sharie filled a small vial with water. "I just didn't have words for it then. I had forgiven you for what happened."

"Eh-whe!" piped the small brown pokemon at his feet, and Anji smiled.

"Eevee does, too, you know?"

* * *

The vial fell to the grass, and Anji dropped to his knees, leaning forward on his arms.

"Gods, I feel strange," he murmered, overwhelmed by the sudden rush of sensations that flowed through his body.

_Sensations-so many-even ones I haven't felt so much since...since_...

Slowly Anji stood up. He pressed his hand against his waist, and wavered a moment...opening his eyes, they were filled with tears.

"There's a hidden switch near my waist that deactivates this if I ever have to remove it," he said softly. "I hit that switch just now. It...worked. Oh gods, it worked..."

"Eh-whee! Evee!" said his little Eevee, which Anji bent down to pick up. His little friend licked at the tears on his cheeks, understanding fully how her owner felt whole again, in more ways than one.

Sharie reached over and touched Mewtwo's hand. When he looked at her, a myriad of emotions in his purple eyes, he heard her voice echo silently in his own mind.

_I think there may be a way to ensure his silence, without just erasing his memories or risking us all being exposed. But, Mewetwo, it also depends...on your willingness to trust, as well as his. I won't ask what you can't give._

To his own surprise he didn't hesistate like he thought he would have. _I do not know...but tell me, and...maybe. If it is not impossible..._


	20. Evolution, Safety, Freedom

_**Disclaimer: NYMN. I'm continuing the process of easing myself back into this story. I've got a lot more in mind, that's for sure. In the days since my mind has spun its own thoughts, newer ones. For this chapter, I'm still finding my feet, so bear with me. Whether or not ANY more chapters get written depends a lot on whether or not enough of you want it.**_

_**One final thing: By now it is fairly easy to find the uncut story of Mewtwo's Origin online...much easier than it was ten years ago. Try Youtube for starters. But there's no reason to not be able to see it anymore. If you haven't yet, do it, so the story makes more sense.**_

From what she'd projected into his mind, Mewtwo silently agreed to give Anji the benefit of the doubt-to see if it was worth her putting into place the alternate means of ensuring his silence. He found he wasn't even surprised that she was capeable of what she suggested.

_I had to use it on that pokemon translator I told you about_, she'd said in his mind. _It does work._ _I didn't have to take away his memories, even though he'd seen Madhea._

"Squirt! Squirtle!"

"Nido! Nidoqueennido!"

"Squirtsquirtle!"

A loud, abrupt argument drove Mewtwo out of his trance, and he looked quickly around. Much to his astonishment, he saw _Squirtle_ of all pokemon glaring angrily at a young Nidoqueen, holding an apple in his hands while she raged at him. Just inches away, Bulbasaur stared at them in shock.

"I saw it first! It's mine!"

"You took it from me, liar!"

"Did not!"

"Did too!"

"Water baby!"

"Jerk!"

"_Enough_!"

Mewtwo's telepathic voice, sharp and clear, ended what was to him a very strange situation. "Squirtle. Young Nidoqueen. You two will not argue. You will learn to settle your differences peacefully. Is that clear?"

"Squirt."

"Nido."

Both looked a tad shamefaced, and for some reason, it was Squirtle who blushed a little. He held it out to the baby Nidoqueen, even though with a rather defiant "Squirt!" he turned up his nose.

"Saur. Saur, bulba." With the assertion that he thought both of them were acting like babies, two slender vines snaked out from Bulbasaur's body and plucked the apple from Squirtle's hands, and with a sharp, deft force, broke it into two equal parts, handing it to two barely-mollified pokemon before sighing and wandering over to where Mewtwo and Sharie stood.

"I saw it," he said. "Squirtle shot several of them out of that apple tree over there with his water gun but when he went to get one, there was only one left and he and that Nidoqueen actually touched it at the same time."

Sharie shook her head. "It isn't just that, is it? Squirtle's been...a bit moody the last few days."

"Be as it may be, I would prefer it if he did not engage in such foolish behaivor," said Mewtwo firmly. "That Nidoqueen is hardly more than a baby. Squirtle was cloned from a much older pokemon and he knows better. If something is bothering him, he should not resort to violence."

Anji had been listening to this, wide-eyed. "You really have changed," he remarked, still experimentally flexing his legs and toes, hardly able to convince himself that all parts worked as promised.

"There is nothing to be gained from such behaivor except pain. I saw that proven when my own heart burned with nothing but rage. If that cycle cannot be broken it will endlessly just repeat itself, Anji. Senseless violence just clouds everything that truly matters, and hides what everyone shares deep inside."

"Truer words were never spoken," said Anji solemnly.

* * *

"Aren't you hungry, Mewtwo?"

He hadn't been aware that any time had passed, but Madhea was suddenly beside him, an apple in her hands. She must have gotten one from those Squirtle had dropped down.

"I am not overly so, Madhea," he answered her gently.

"Squirtle's little spat made a lot of pokemon gloomy," she answered, looking around her for a moment. "I know he's unhappy right now about something."

"Unfortunately I cannot help him if he doesn't tell me why of his own free will. There are boundaries I've had to learn not to cross, Madhea."

"I think you take your responsibilities too heavily, Mewtwo!" she said, with such conviction he looked at her, astonished.

"You know, you're right when you say that senseless violence clouds what really matters," she said pointedly. "But so can brooding and feeling so responsible you don't even know what joy is. That too makes you miss the beauty around you, and inside you and everyone else, the beauty that can't be seen."

"I...don't think I want to say that I have never known joy." He reached down and picked her up. "I just recently discovered what it might feel like...for the very first time."

She blushed a deep red, but smiled at him impishly. "Then how about learning how that feeling makes you see everything differently?"

"I'm...not sure I follow you exactly," he said, confused. An awakened heart brought even greater pain was all he'd known until..._too, too recently_. He'd learned caring. Greater responsiblity. Concern and friendship for his fellow pokemon.

_Joy? Happiness? Love?_ Emotions of which he knew next to nothing about.

_Until_...

He focused on the happily smiling face before him.

"Mewtwo," she said suddenly, "I personally find stars beautiful, and they're more than just up in the sky. Would you believe that apples hide stars in them?"

He smiled at her indulgently. "I know stars are beautiful, Madhea, but last I knew, they didn't grow in apples."

"I can prove it!" she asserted, her amethyst eyes sparkling happily.

She held the apple up between them in her little hands. It looked like a normal apple to him...large, lush, true, due to Purity Spring's water...but there didn't seem to be anything supernatural about it.

Madhea's eyes glowed ice-blue for a moment as she sharpened her psychic powers into a single cutting blade; Psycho Cut. The sharp force drove straight through the center of the apple, slicing it neatly in two, top half and bottom half.

She pulled the two halves apart and upended the top half to show him.

The black seeds in the middle all pointed straight outwards, five points, stark against the sweet, tart white inner flesh of the fruit.

_Five points, just like a star_.

_So that is what she meant_...

Slowly his gaze shifted from the fruit to the large amethyst eyes beyond it, and Madhea's expression turned into pure joy when she read in his own wonder-filled eyes that he understood.

"Madhea...you're very wise," was all he could say aloud.

She giggled for a moment before pushing the top half into his hand, at the same time leaning forward, kissing him gently on the cheek before floating out of his grasp and moving away.

* * *

"Is that typical?" Anji asked in a whisper, even as he'd seen Bulbasaur walk off.

"For Squirtle, it isn't. Something has been bothering him, but I can't make them tell me their problems. That is their own choice to make," she answered low.

Madhea had wandered off in Mewtwo's direction, the apple in her hands, and Sharie deliberately led Anji in the opposite direction. Madhea had clearly sensed Mewtwo was brooding. _Too much_.

_It came too strongly to the pokemon who'd known only pain, from a life of being used and betrayed_.

She'd known then how just recently the first instant of pure joy he'd ever felt...it'd been almost a sensory shock to him.

_I don't think I did, either. I didn't understand it until Iooked into her eyes. Until then I knew that before then, how long ago and how little I'd ever known true happiness, not since...not except for...__**her.**__ I didn't understand the power of an all-encompassing love, either._

_Only now can I know that Madhea's been the only real happiness I'd ever felt...except...oh, Amber!_

Fortunately, Anji had bent down just then, to pick up his little Eevee, dancing at his heels, which gave her enough time to quickly mask her emotions.

_Amber had been the sole true exeption to...all that pain_.

Firmly Sharie put it away from her even as he stood back up, his happily wiggling pokemon yipping and licking his cheek affectionately.

_Him, too, I think. In many ways_.

"Anji," she asked suddenly. "Has your life been a happy one, or unhappy?"

"What?" he appeared startled, before seeing in her eyes that she was serious. His Eevee snuggled against him happily, and he looked up to see part of his Eeveeloution team trailing in their direction.

"These guys are my happiness."

"Eh-whe!" Eevee agreed.

"I ain't seen other humans in weeks," he admitted readily. "And I don't know why, but as I pushed further into Johto, and further from people...the less I cared. Is that weird?"

Eevee gave a sudden yip in Sharie's direction, and she hopped into her arms when she held them out.

"No. You said you traveled with a purpose, even if you didn't know what it really was."

"You're the first human I've seen in ages. And I feel that's enough! Me with my Master's ranking and I suddenly don't even care. I've got my legs back. I don't know what to do next with myself," he admitted.

"Mewtwo will probably not say no if you stayed for a day or so to figure that out," she suggested.

"Uh...I was going to ask that," he admitted sheepishly. "Not for me. My team is spiritually tired, and this is a beautiful spot. If I were to ask for such a thing, it'd be for their sake."

She rather admired how he didn't admit it was for him, too. At least not openly. She touched her nose to the little Eevee in her arms. "I don't see the harm in it. But that is up to him."

Anji was about to say what good it'd do any of them though if their memories were erased, but he was prevented from doing so by the sounds of fighting. Not just arguing, but an outright battle.

_"Vul! Vulpix vul!"_

_"Squirtle!"_

_"Vuuuuuul!"_

Both humans turned and stared in horror at Vulpix blasting Squirtle with Flame Wheel, which he jumped, dodged, and sent Bubblebeam blasting into her face.

The water attack hit the fire fox pokemon head-on, and she collapsed without a sound.

The look on Squirtle's face, even before Mewtwo got over his shock and before Sharie came over at a dead run, said he realized he had crossed the line this time.

She caught a quick glimpse of his face even as she lifted Vulpix's limp form, and it was written all over him-shock and regret.

Mewtwo was there by now, and she looked directly into his eyes without saying a word.

_Did he realize more was probably going on here than what it looked like? _she wondered briefly.

He must have, for he closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them, nodding at her unspoken plea, and remained silent.

Before she stood up, she looked into Squirtle's terrified, regretful face.

"For now, will you help me care for her?" she asked quietly.

He swallowed back his tears and nodded. "Squirt."

"Okay. Come on." She led them both to the nearby spring, laying Vulpix's limp body down beside it. She held her hand over the small form and summoned psychic energy, which she tinged with fire-typed energy, holding it over the pokemon's body.

"Would you bring me a little water from the spring?" she asked Squirtle.

He nodded and dug into her pack, coming up with a vial and filling it.

"Thank you," she said quietly, lowering her hand to pick up the still form once more. "Here. Pour a little into my hand."

He obeyed, pouring a few drops into her cupped palm, which she brought to Vulpix's muzzle.

Vulpix's nose sniffed, and without opening her eyes, her little tongue darted out, lapping the liquid.

"Good girl," Sharie murmured, repeating this action. Vulpix was not entirely unconscious anymore. The heat had partially revived her.

Finally Sharie asked Squirtle to hand her a bottle that contained sleeping medication. She sensed the healing spring waters restoring Vulpix to health, but as a precaution, she felt it wise to have the fox pokemon rest for a while.

* * *

Sharie settled the sleeping fox next to Ninetails, who nodded her head and promised to keep Vulpix warm, although she was fully healed now and was just sleeping.

"Thanks for doing that," she said, and the elegant pokemon tossed her head in acknowledgement as the human walked away.

She walked back to where Squirtle sat uncertainly, his brown eyes filled with trepidation.

With a sigh she sat beside him, drawing him onto her lap.

"I haven't wanted to make you tell me what's been bothering you, Squirtle," she said softly. "But when it comes to others getting hurt..."

"Squirtle," he said, looking so ashamed she didn't know how his emotions could sink any lower.

"She might be angry with you, but we'll bring her around," Sharie encouraged. "But for now, something has been eating at you. And getting worse the more you brood on it."

"Squirt. Squirtle squirtle."

The words astounded her.

"Sharie. Do you think I have the right to evolve?"

* * *

"Do you..." she repeated out loud. "Is that what this is about?"

Even as she said it, her fingers twitched imperceptibly on his shell. In that instant, she felt it; the vaguest undercurrents of restless energy in the young turtle pokemon. Not quite there yet; but rapidly approaching evolution soon.

"Squirtle...your body belongs to you, I'd think," she answered carefully. "I'd think that is up to you."

"Both Meowth and Bulbasaur refused!" he asserted. "I didn't go with you to find Bulbasaur, you know! I've been all set to evolve and yet..."

He trailed off and looked at both Meowth and Bulbasaur, who positively had their mouths open, shocked at what he said.

"They refused because they had their own reasons for not wanting to evolve," Sharie said simply.

"I want to evolve!"

Sharie, trying hard to follow all of this, tried to let the puzzle pieces fall together in her mind. As far as she could tell, Squirtle had been all set to evolve-at least, until Meowth and Bulbasaur's refusals planted serious doubts into his mind.

"Squirtle, your life and your worth have nothing to do with your being a clone," said Mewtwo seriously. "I thought we had all learned it that day. I have realized since, though, that some of us have borne the brunt of all of this more than others. What you do with your body is up to you."

"I wish you'd felt that way when you copied me from the original," Squirtle muttered.

"That is not now," asserted Mewtwo firmly. "Perhaps you couldn't understand what I saw that night. All of you, clones and originals alike, set aside all your differences. That power that emerged from all of you...what was different about it for you clones? Not a thing."

"Then why are we here?" Squirtle snapped. "If nothing so important about us is different, maybe we don't have to isolate ourselves here!"

Mewtwo blinked at the outburst.

"If anyone out there is ever going to care that we are clones, it'd just be humans and nobody else!"

"Which is the precise reason I chose this isolated place," answered Mewtwo. "To protect us all from those who'd actually _care_ about the difference of clones from originals-us; copies, shadows. I've spent all this time questioning the worth of clones. Even I do not have a straight answer to give you, but when Team Rocket attacked this place, Pikachu was all for fighting, and I could not make myself stop him. Even then I was questioning what was more important. Your safety, or your freedom."

"Pika!" cried out the little yellow pokemon at Sharie's feet...and tears filled his brown eyes and trickled down his cheeks. "Pikachu! Pika!"

Sharie knelt down and let Pikachu hop up onto her shoulder. "You were a very angry little pokemon in my visions," she said quietly. "You felt it to your core, didn't you, Pikachu?"

"Pika!"

He did. He had felt it even more because his cloning had been slightly imperfect, resulting in a vague slurring of his Pikachu speech, and his resentment of Ash's Pikachu and the freedom it enjoyed so readily, and resented how the original had a trainer who loved and cared for him with his whole being.

Mewtwo had noticed, lately, that Pikachu had calmed down quite a lot. The effect of having a lap to cuddle in and someone who readily gave him affection had made a startling difference, answering at least one of Pikachu's most desperate needs.

Mewtwo wondered if he really was doing his clones any good, keeping them all here, away from the world.

"But back to the bottom line...both Meowth and Bulbasaur had their own reasons for not wanting to evolve. I saw for myself that it made no difference to the other bulbasaur in their garden that Bulbasaur and Venusaur were clones. There was nothing in them that resonated any differently to nature than any original pokemon. I fail to see here why that should be any different with you, Squirtle. It is your choice whether or not to evolve, and when. Nobody here will ever force you to do it, nor not do it, clone or no clone."

"I've never forced any of my Eevee to evolve, or tried to make them evolve or not into what I wanted them to be," said Anji, not even realizing for himself just how clearly he was understanding everything at the moment. All of his Eeveeloutions were sitting in a group around his feet, listening and nodding their heads.

"Then why are they all different?" scoffed Squirtle, and Sharie blushed as she translated this.

"Vapor! Vaporeon!"

"Flareon!"

Um! Umbree!"

The chorus of assertions from the whole group made her laugh quietly.

"It's just coincidence," said Anji, looking amused. "If three of them had wanted to become Flareon, well, I would have three Flareons in my group. Only this girl here," and he stroked the Eevee in his arms, "hasn't wanted to evolve at all. I certainly have never made her do it."

"And I didn't say I'd _never_. I haven't wanted to yet!"

Anji found he understood this as easily as if she'd been speaking human to him, and he smiled.

"Bulba! Bulbasaur!"

Squirtle blinked. Even Bulbasaur had come to realize for himself that the day might come when he'd change his mind.

"You see?" said Sharie gently. "I can find no reason in my mind that you cannot plan your own evolution as you see fit. If you want I'll take you topside and see if a little training triggers it. You're certainly simmering under the surface with evolution energy, because I can feel it."

"I'll help," Anji said, jerking his thumb at his Eevee party. "They wouldn't mind some limbering up."

"Jolt! Jolt!"

"Glaceon!"

"...and they really do want to help you," he finished.

Hope finally entered this doubtful Squirtle's eyes, and he finally nodded.

"I'll do it!"

He blanched, though, casting a sorrowful glance at the still-sleeping Vulpix across the way.

"Just apologize later; eventually she'll warm back up to you," said Sharie quietly. She didn't know what had caused their battle to begin with and supposed it didn't matter at the moment, either.

* * *

"Mew, what should I do about this?" asked Mewtwo resignedly, even after the group of pokemon wanting to be involved and been picked up and flown to the surface via Sharie's telekensis. "If some of my fellow clones truly want to find their own way...is it wrong of me to not let them? How many of them might want it so badly?"

He glanced at the large group of baby Nidoqueen and Rhyhorn milling around. "And these little ones...I'm not sure they shouldn't be sent out when the time is right to live their own lives. Maybe even..."

He didn't finish what Mew realized he almost said. ..._Maybe even find good human trainers of their own. _Until the day came that Mewtwo could learn to more readily trust more humans, those words would never be said.

Not out loud.

All Mew said was, "In the end, Mewtwo...that is something you and they all must decide, together. Pikachu was so frustrated and jealous for the freedom and love Ash's Pikachu has. But now he's learned the caring and affection of a human right here. It is up to all of you to make your own choices. I can't make them for any of you, the thrill of freedom versus the risk of falling into the wrong hands of those who'd realize you were clones, or worse, like Sharie, _used_ for who she is and what she could contribute to a clone, but seldom loved in return for it. Just like a thing."

* * *

"Go, Vaporeon! Bubblebeam!" Anji directed his Vaporeon to attack the squirtle in the battle taking place in the great outdoors. He didn't know why he was enjoying this so thoroughly, but he was. Maybe it'd just been a long time...

The fierce jet of bubbles was enough to knock squirtle flying into the air_...really_ high, and the bubbles numerous enough to let a sinking afternoon sun create a rainbow effect in the surrounding area of Mt. Quena's peak.

"Squirt! Squirtle!" Sharie blinked in surprise as, hovering several feet off the ground as she was, she clearly saw Squirtle pull in head, arms, and tail and begin whirling rapidly, spraying powerful jets of water through all the holes in his shell, and the momentum actually giving a medocium of leverage in the air.

"Sharie...uh...did Squirtle just learn Hydro Pump?" asked Madhea, floating beside her.

Sharie nodded, privately thrilled to see a display. "You can even out that spinning, Squirtle, and gain even greater leverage!" she called out. "Hover over Vaporeon and time it with Skull Bash!"

"Squirtle!" finding he had a natural ability for it, he moved to zero in on Vaporeon.

"Double Team, Vaporeon!"

Obediently Vaporeon upped his evasion, to the point of creating an illusion of copies of himself.

"Don't let that fool you, Squirtle! You have the same ability to sense water currents as Vaproeon! You know what feels like mist and what feels stronger!"

"Squirtle!"

It was true. Even Anji couldn't adequately tell what Sharie meant by this right away, but Squirtle did. The real Vaporeon would have the strongest water current feel than any copied illusion, which struck his water pokemon senses as more of a misty rain feel.

He accurately zeroed in on the correct Vaporeon and dived so sharply he gained serious momentum, ceasing whirling and pulling out his head, hardening it just in time for a furious Skull Bash that knocked Vaporeon silly.

Squirtle came out of it landing neatly on his feet, while Anji rushed to his fallen Vaporeon...a pokemon he'd figured was several levels higher than squirtle's. But he had no way of telling for sure.

"Good job, Squirtle," Sharie came over, praising the little turtle Pokemon.

He turned and gave her a happy smile. "Squirtle!"

Suddenly his brown eyes opened wide. "Squirt..."

An obliterating whiteness covered all of his features and nearly blinded everyone for a split second. Sharie forced her eyes to remain open as she watched the white-light form begin to alter and grow in size and shape.

_The full power of nature, right here, right now, even in this clone who thought it wasn't right even though he'd wanted it_...

But his wish had been granted.

The figure grew, and the dainty curly tail grew into something longer, feathery in texture, and beautiful, even as the light faded.

"Wartortle! Wartortle!"

His eyes widening in joy as he realized his wish had been granted, he flung himself at Sharie, who'd landed on the ground, while not considering the extra strength that usually came with evolution, hitting her with enough force to knock her onto her behind.

She didn't seem to mind, returning his happy hug even when he pulled away and blushed a bit guiltily.

"I'm not hurt," she assured him. "But you can't playfully tackle the baby pokemon anymore without risking that, so just be careful, ok?"

"Wartortle! War!"

Anji had quietly revived his fallen Vaporeon, and now they both came over to where Wartortle and Sharie sat.

"Vaporeon! Vay!"

"Yes, congratulations," he said with a warm smile, neither upset over the loss. "You got your wish, and I'm happy for you, Wartortle."

"I've rarely lost and I thought I was a lot stronger than you," Vaporeon admitted. "But this was the right thing this time."

"Wartortle."

Vaporeon laughed and pounced on him playfully, knocking him backwards, sending the two of them into a mock battle, not really hitting or hurting each other.

Sharie watched this with a smile, and for a moment Anji stared at her.

"That's the first time today I've seen you look that serene," he remarked.

She looked at him in surprise, not realizing he'd been staring at her with such intensity. She blushed scarlet. "Does it matter?" She looked over at the happy pair, while Madhea slipped her fingers into her belt loop as she normally did. "I've been here long enough to know that with these pokemon...they certainly have their moments. Not all are bad ones for sure."

"Not all humans are bad, either," he said pointedly.

"I did not think you were," she answered.

"I was more talking about you," he said pointedly, which gained him a dirty look.

"I don't mean it in a bad way!" he said quickly, raising his hands defensively. "You just...don't have to carry the heavy burden you seem to carry. Not all the time."

She looked away. "Someone has to. Someone has to take responsibility when everyone else cannot. Someone has to walk in the shadows."

"I'm not entirely certain of the mindset in which you were raised, although I'm getting a good idea," he conceded. "But I'm wondering if all of you, locked away here, will ever be able to see enough of the world this way to maybe realize that what you think is rare...the goodness in people...isn't so rare after all."

"Believe me, there have been remarkably few that I've ever met!" she snapped.

"When it is bad scientists and evil teams running amok over your lives, I'd hardly think so," he conceded. "But it isn't that way everywhere, on every street, in every home. Unfortunately, it is there for those horrible people that go looking for it."

Anji closed his eyes for a long moment. "Sharie, are you ever in contact with your father and uncle?"

She opened her eyes, seeing Mewtwo right behind Anji even as he said it. "Why would you ask that?"

"Because something very odd was happening the few days I was around them a few months back. Their reputations seem to have preceded them. I didn't know if it was anything important at the time, but after what I've seen here today..." Anji glanced around him. "I'd be asking your old man about a land far away called Unova, a very secretive team called Team Plasma...and ask your father what he knows about the ancient, said to be extinct pokemon Genesect."

Her eyes filled with horror. "_Why?"_

"Because a representative was on your father and uncle's case repeatedly while I was there. He kept coming back, trying to get your folks to agree to help with cloning experiments for Plasma's cause. Your folks kept showing them the door, and the last time, was very rudely explicit when he told the guy to buzz off. Still, I think you're better off knowing what is going on. Who knows if a team like that...would come back."

A serious sickness crept into Sharie's soul at his words, and she felt her heart trying to encase itself in ice, wanting to protect itself from the reality of what his words could mean...


End file.
